


Red

by kelly54me



Series: Black, White, and Red [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (mostly), Alliances, Armitage Hux Being An Asshole, Armitage Hux Has Issues, Armitage Hux Has No Chill, Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Cliffhangers, Depression, Escape, F/M, Family Feels, First Order Politics (Star Wars), Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I promise it's not as depressing as the tags make it sound, Injury Recovery, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Major Character Injury, New Republic Era (Star Wars), On the Run, Parenthood, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Revenge, Self-Destruction, Spies & Secret Agents, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 88,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27008434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelly54me/pseuds/kelly54me
Summary: The Resistance has come to an end. As the fires of rebellion give way to embers struggling to stay lit, General Hux is driven to the edge and then pushed beyond it. As light fades from the galaxy, Lori walks a delicate dance while the past threatens to steal the future.Will they be reunited once again, or will powers beyond their control separate them forever?.***.***.***.***.As you can probably guess from the tags, the tone is a bit darker this time around. So I'm just going to put a general trigger warning for depression/alcohol addiction/generally self destructive behavior. Tread carefully, and please enjoy.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Black, White, and Red [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601431
Comments: 32
Kudos: 28





	1. A Viper In The Rats Nest

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again. I hope everyone's doing well, and that y'all enjoy part 4 of the series. Updates will be twice a week (Monday/Thursday). Hope y'all stick around, and please enjoy.

"All hail the supreme leader!"

The words rumbled off the walls of the large banquet hall, a jumble of voices from scores of falsely enthusiastic officers. The several hundred men and women lowered their glasses from a toast before sitting back in their seats, the last echo of their cheer giving way to low chatter and the clinking of silverware.

At the head of the long room was a wall draped in scarlet banners, each of them emblazoned with the First Order's insignia. The room itself was one of many grand banquet halls within the _Supremacy_. The tall dome-like ceiling seemed to stretch on forever, one of the few that had survived the impact. A raised platform stood at the far end of the room. A barren place beneath the banners, it was home to little more than an austere podium. General Pryde stepped down from the stage, his duty as the master of ceremony for Kylo Ren's official coronation having finally come to a close.

The hours long series of toasts and speeches had sat like a stone in General Hux's gut. The night had served a dual purpose: as a celebration for Kylo Ren, who hadn't even bothered to attend, and as a memorial service for those lost in the rebel's suicide charge.

One week after the attack and the full extent of the damage was still unfolding. Over eighty percent of city block eighteen had been designated as missing in action, their remains never found but their fate almost certainly being death. The numbers were grim even as the distance from the impact grew. Untold thousands had been burned or electrocuted, choked by smoke or suffocated by an airlock breach.

First chance he had gotten, Hux had rushed back to his temporary quarters. To his horror, he had arrived after the fires had burned through city block eighteen.

He had brought a medical specialist, and emergency rescue teams had already begun to spread through the doomed section of the ship.

But it didn't matter. Entering the ruined suite, he had been greeted by a burned out husk. Fine art pieces in the living room had been reduced to ash, and the delicate glasses in the bar had melted into a single glistening layer of glass on the floor.

He had called out, searching each room with increasing urgency, but no one was there. Not a single charred body, nor a blackened skeletal remain. The medical specialist had determined that a smear of soot that stuck to the ruined dining room table might have been blood, but it was so thoroughly burnt that collecting a DNA sample was impossible.

Knowing so little and fearing so much left a nauseating mix of hope and terror to claw at the general. Time on the torn bridge of the _Supremacy_ seemed like a blur, and life only ever came into painfully sharp focus when Armitage got the chance to slip away from the main section of the ship. As the days passed by, he had desperately searched the names of the dead. Never finding mention of Lori nor Ardis nor even Mitaka, left him to wonder. Left him to search the wreckage with every spare second he could tear away from the day.

One week later and he'd found nothing.

Twenty star destroyers were ripped from space, their crews being turned to space dust along with them. The _Supremacy_ had been locked in orbit around Crait, it's fate still uncertain. Hundreds of thousands dead, over a million injured, and untold trillions of credits in damages, the First Order may have won the galaxy but it lost a part of itself.

General Hux looked to Kylo Ren's empty seat.

Armitage felt the holodisk of Lori and Ardis in his breast pocket.

"Sir, can I get you another drink?"

Hux slowly convinced his eyes to drift back to the table. Unwillingly, they came to a stop over Sergeant Ullis. The sergeant was Mitaka's replacement. Slightly older than the general, Hux had decided that Ullis was an utterly unremarkable man. Lacking the lieutenant's quick thinking, he was almost impressively dull. Quick to shut down and retreat at the slightest hint of trouble, Ullis bore an uncanny resemblance to a nervous protocol droid.

Worst of all, Ullis had committed the most unforgivable sin: He watched Hux with an expression of pity rather than fear or respect.

"Sir?" Sergeant Ullis shifted uncomfortably in his chair, out of place in the formal event and quickly withering under Hux's poisonous glare.

Hux searched for some solace in the man's obvious fear, but he found none. Instead, he looked for something else to dull the sharp edge of the night, "Gin. Over ice."

Debating whether he should pause for some other comment, but quickly deciding against making the general wait, Ullis nodded slightly before excusing himself from the table.

Though the thing was meant to hold eight, Hux was left alone as Ullis hurried away. He let a finger impatiently tap at the durasteel table, his meal untouched for the lack of an appetite.

Lori should be sitting to his left as his guest for the night. Mitaka should have been to his right, his seat left empty as he went on the errands that Ullis took on instead. Phasma should have been there as well, armor polished to a dangerous gleam. But her face had been on an endless holoreel, just one more dead officer among the thousands listed as in memoriam.

Another member of high command should have sat opposite the general, their own party taking up the other half of the seats, but Hux had been left alone. He should have been offended by his placement away from the rest of high command, and a little bit afraid. He had spent a decade mercilessly climbing the ranks of the First Order, giving every shred of himself and a little bit more to his nation. But with Starkiller Base, his most impressive project had gone down in flames, and his key supporter carved in two in his own throne room.

Ullis returned from his task, setting the glass down and surprising Hux in the process, "May I get you anything else, sir?"

General Hux looked down at the glass of gin. The thin liquid and clear ice showed him nothing, too ethereal to even cast his defeated reflection back at him.

"No." he didn't bother to tack on any other comments and the sergeant nervously returned to his seat.

There was another hour left to the banquet. Officers chattered, usually respectfully quite as the survivors reminisced about those dead from the attacks. But occasionally the volume of a neighboring table would drop even further, its occupants casting quick glances over their shoulders towards the general.

They knew. It seemed the whole officer corps had heard of Ardis at least, if not Lori as well.

Hux took a sip of his gin while pointedly ignoring the scarcely hidden glances.

At least the other officers looked at him with the hungry gaze of a predator, their vicious minds considering how to use the information to their advantage. Hux recognized the look. He had worn it himself a thousand times, and it was something he took a terrible comfort in.

Anything was better than pity.

.***.***.***.***.

A few muffled sounds echoed through the tightly shut door and into the cramped storage room turned medical center. Mostly tired footsteps, though occasional snippets of conversation rumbled through the worn walls.

Lori sat at the edge of a grimy bunk bed, eyes intently set on one of the two occupied beds.

One long week later, and Lieutenant Mitaka still hadn't woken up. He'd barely stirred at all, only speaking in confused bursts from a fever induced madness. Brixie had tried her best, but they hadn't any medicine. The tiny first aid kits that had been stashed around the _Falcon_ had been stripped bare, the most grievously wounded given priority.

Even then, they had to ration materials: Doses of bacta were reduced until the spray was little more than water. Bandages were layered on so thinly that they were soaked with blood mere seconds after being applied. There was only one set of crutches, split between two of the five that needed them. The painkillers had ran out on the first day.

Mitaka had been at the bottom of the priority list, if he was even on it at all. As far as the Resistance knew, he was a defector but he had still arrived in a First Order uniform. It was still the only thing the rest of the crew knew of him, some of them even going so far as to not bother learning his name.

Lori looked up as Mitaka unexpectedly shuddered with a deep breath.

Her sudden movement attracted Ardis' attention. The infant hadn't left her side in the days they had been trapped with the rebels. With the hovercrib lost and no replacement in sight, Lori had tied a strip of cloth around her shoulders to make a sling across her chest. Ardis lay in the tattered fabric, the gray blanket that Armitage had given her being a soft and relatively clean layer between her and the ratty sling.

Lori reached an arm up to the infant. Ardis recognized the movement and made an excited coo.

"Yeah, there you go." Lori spoke in attempt to make the room feel a little less desperate, "Keep on smiling, kid."

Ardis didn't know, a small part of Lori wished that she was as carefree and clueless. The rest of her was furious.

At herself, at the Resistance, at the galaxy, and at any other thing that dare cross her mind.

This was an embarrassment. She was an embarrassment, a failure that had let herself crumble under the weight of one catastrophe after another. And now she was trapped on a ruddy ship, zipping through a war torn galaxy, with no chance of escape in sight. The aged and stained walls of the _Falcon_ were disgusting and the whole place made her skin crawl with unease, but that was nothing compared the heavy shroud of shame that she had woven for herself.

She shouldn't have given into a panic so easily on Crait, shouldn't have let a series of old fears and disjointed memories cloud her judgment back on the _Supremacy_.

She had lost. She had lost control. She had lost her home. And she lost herself.

Taking a breath, Lori pushed down the self-loathing. It was unbecoming, and it wasn't helpful.

The breath turned into a hissing sigh, it seemed like so much of herself wasn't helpful.

Ardis latched onto Lori's thumb. The unexpected sensation being enough to jolt Lori away from intrusive thoughts.

"Thanks for that," she spoke to the infant.

Ardis looked back up at the Lori, wide eyes intently waiting for another sound. Lori said nothing, instead leaving her hand to rest on the infant. Ardis had grown in the last week, though she was still a chubby newborn, she was apparently aware of her surroundings and seemingly intent on studying the features of every new person she saw.

A scared little voice in the back of Lori's head muttered persistent fears, _What if she never sees Armitage again? What if we're stuck with the rebels… what if they find out?_

Forcibly shaking herself free from the thoughts, Lori stood to take an impatient step across the room. She tried to hold on to the little slivers of good news she had heard. The First Order was sweeping through the galaxy, and she had heard more than a few of the rebels cursing Armitage's name. At any rate, she had confirmed that he was still alive.

That tiny shred of hope gave her something to cling to.

_We're going home! Hell or high water, I'm getting us out of this mess._

Two short steps brought her to the side of Mitaka's bed. She looked down at him, his crumbled features serving as another reminder of how dire the situation was.

Mitaka had lost an eye.

The medic said he should be fine, as long as infection didn't set it.

Lori tried brushing a gentle hand to the tiny uninjured section of the lieutenant's forehead.

Unsurprisingly, it was burning hot.

She couldn't let the lieutenant ruin her cover story, but at this rate he may never get the chance. She had to get a message out to Hux, but there was someone in the cockpit at all times and there were no communication terminals outside of the one at the pilot's seat.

Secretly escaping the jam packed ship was impossible. There were no escape pods. Even if there were, the only place she even had the chance of privacy at was here in the makeshift med-bay.

They hadn't a final destination either, and as far as she knew the twenty people crammed onto the ship was all that remained of the Resistance. At the moment, they were in orbit around Tah'Nuhna. Leia had requested sanctuary and was on planet to negotiate.

A distant hiss of an airlock and a chorus of excited voices came from the hall.

Looking up at the sound, Lori spoke despite herself, "That was fast."

Ardis cooed at the noise.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too." Lori replied before sliding her arms beneath the sling. It was perfectly functional, but she still didn't trust the tattered cloth to stay in one piece when she moved around the ship.

Already sure of what the news would be, Lori stepped out of the sick room. To her utter lack of surprise, there was a distant voice from the main lounge. The excitement had faded, replaced by a heavy silence and then a ripple of disappointed whispers.

A single accented voice rose above the murmur, "Surely not, we need their help!"

Lori had done what she could to imbed herself in the group, though she was especially weary of two women. Senator -or general, or princess, or whatever other moniker she was going by now- Organa stood to the far end of the room. Beside her was Rey, the scavenger girl that Hux had said Kylo Ren was obsessed with.

For once in her life, Lori wasn't interested in the twisted interpersonal problems of those around her, so much as she was in the two women's strange abilities. She knew that Kylo Ren could be a mind reader when he wanted to be, and she had no reason to believe that Leia and Rey would be any different.

Keeping to the back of the crowd, Lori barely heard Leia mutter something about patience to Rey. Before the younger woman had the chance to make the sharp comment that sat at the edge of her tongue, Leia gestured to Poe.

The conversation grew too hushed to hear before the women slunk back towards the cockpit. Poe was left to stand at the head of the crowd, tired from days without sleep but still making an effort to stand tall.

"Alright, the Tah'Nuhnans are giving us supplies, but not much else. Let's get everything off their ship and onto ours," Poe tried to hide a defeated look, and when no one snapped into action he tried to encourage the crowd, "C'mon! Let's go!"

Slowly, the survivors milled into action. Lori tried to ignore a sinking surge of familiarity as she watched a small group limp their way to Brixie. Whatever medicines they had gotten would be gone in a day or two, and there was no telling how much food they had left.

Clutching Ardis, she went to Brixie's side. The friendly face Lori wore was fake, and wearing it felt utterly repulsive.


	2. In Search Of

Lori clutched Ardis, who was soundly asleep.

Though standard time said it was the middle of the night, she couldn't sleep. Day and night were meaningless in space, especially when she had been relegated to the interior halls of a near windowless freighter. Especially when there was always someone awake in the ship. Always someone crowding the cockpit, cutting her off from the only chance she might have at slipping a message out of the ship.

Weeks had gone by, and the Resistance had only survived by scraping handfuls of supplies out of sympathetic systems. In the past several days, Lori had learned that there were a few scattered cells, though none had come to their rescue on Crait. Many had been dissolved, or attacked, or had disappeared for no apparent reason. In any case, none were in a place to accept the most notorious ship in the galaxy.

A small rhythmic tapping filled the tiny med-bay. Lori had to force herself to sit still through the agitation. If for no other reason, than to keep Ardis asleep through the night.

She hadn't moved to any other room on the ship, mostly because there wasn't any other space, but also because she was keeping vigil over Mitaka. His fever had broken only a day ago, with the rest of the Resistance members finally being in good enough health to spare some medicine.

_One misplaced comment from him, and my cover story goes up in flames._

Sitting perfectly still did nothing to drive away her unrelenting thoughts. Lori decided that nervously pacing might get the job done instead.

The room was small, and she was left standing over Mitaka after a quick realization that moving in the cramped room also didn't help.

A second after she came to a stop, Mitaka stirred slightly, his one eye fluttering open as if the concept was foreign. Lori leaned over the man, one hand against the sling that held Ardis while she gestured for silence with the other.

Mitaka didn't get the message, mind sluggish from his lingering injuries and the traces of painkillers in his system, "Maj-"

Lori quickly lowered her hand, clamping it firmly over his mouth before casting a nervous glance to the door. Mitaka recoiled at the sensation, wounds still raw and screaming against the touch. He yelped in pain, though the sound was muffled against Lori's hand.

Moving back slightly, Lori tried not to hurt him, but she kept it obvious that he shouldn't speak.

"Quiet." She barely spoke above a whisper, "If you want to live, follow my lead."

He scarcely let out a confused mumble as reality started coming into focus around him. He could only see half the room. Though Major Gallus was close enough to reach him, there was something off, and he couldn't tell exactly how far or close she was standing. More troubling was the fact that this wasn't a med-bay. The walls were an aged tan, and the room felt curved instead of being the perfectly angular architecture found on First Order ships.

Lori followed what she thought was Mitaka's line of sight to the door. For a second she intently listened for footsteps. When she found none, she turned back to the lieutenant.

"We're on a Resistance ship," she began slowly, only to then speak more quickly as she saw a hint of panic tracing across Mitaka's features, "but I'm going to get us out of here. They think that we're on their side. If anyone asks, I'm not a major, and you helped me escape from prison on the _Supremacy_."

He didn't catch all the meaning of Lori's words, and he was even more confused by the sudden heavy wild space accent on her voice. He tried asking for clarification, but a throbbing pain came from his jaw. The sharp sensation was nearly overwhelming, and between it and a fatigue that came with fighting infection, Mitaka's eyelids screwed shut.

"Look at me," Lori thought she saw him drifting back into unconsciousness.

Mitaka groaned but did as he was told.

Wincing at the overly loud sound, and hoping that neither Ardis nor anyone else on the ship heard them, Lori went on, "Look at me. You call me Lori, okay? Not major, not ma'am, not miss anything, just my first name. Got that?"

He tried to mumble a question, but he was stopped by a sudden movement from Lori.

She heard distant footsteps through the door. She couldn't be sure who it might be, or if they even meant to enter the med-bay. But she did know that it would be suspicious if they walked in to find her talking to the lieutenant rather than immediately fetching Brixie.

Playing her part, Lori went to the door and opened it before anyone else got the chance.

She had made the right call. She was greeted by Brixie and Dak, the latter of whom was about to open the door himself.

"Oh, thank the stars," Lori spoke in a rushed but hushed voice and kept one arm under Ardis, "I was just about to some after you, Brixie. I think the lieutenant is starting to wake up."

Brixie blinked at the news, making a small sound of surprise before looking past Lori. Seeing her last patient awake, she hurriedly stepped into the room. Lori let the medic pass, desperately hoping that Mitaka was either awake enough to remember what she had just told him, or too out of it to continue speaking all together.

Dak lingered in the hall before tentatively stepping into the room. Lori left the door open behind him, the room was already cramped.

While Brixie checked up on Mitaka, Dak kept his distance and leaned against the wall.

He'd been dragged over coals for letting Lori get taken in the first place. Though Lori herself had claimed that the lieutenant was on their side, Dak was still slow to warm up to him. He did feel a little bit bad that the rest of the Resistance was also holding the injured man at an arm's length, but it wasn't easy to look past that ominous gray uniform.

Especially after the First Order had murdered untold millions.

Dak tried to shake his prejudices. Brixie was a far better judge of character, and she had warmed up to the lieutenant. Finn used to be First Order, and he was one of the best men Dak knew.

Dak shifted against the wall, _But Finn didn't sign up for shit. Getting kidnapped and forced into being a trooper ain't the same as climbing the ranks into being an officer._

Lori watched her old friend and she recognized the look he wore as the one that meat he was deep in thought. It didn't appear often, and it did it never worked out in her favor.

"Y'all got here at just the right time," she turned toward him and spoke softly.

"Suppose we did," he took a long minute to turn his attention away from the barely conscious lieutenant, "how's the little one doing?"

Lori looked down at the soundly sleeping infant, "Still in one piece. I'd kill to get her out of this ship, though. A baby needs some fresh air."

Dak hummed slightly before replying. He spoke in a low tone, wearily eyeing Mitaka as he did, "I think we got a place."

Dazed and more confused that he had ever been before, the lieutenant didn't even notice the sharp glance.

Lori shifted her stance to put herself more fully between Dak and Mitaka. "He's not listening. Where are we going?"

Her former friend still hesitated before finally saying, "Anoat."

.***.***.***.***.

Barely contained rage raced through the general as he sat furiously typing away at his computer.

He'd been reassigned.

Unsurprisingly, he'd lost command of the ruined _Supremacy_. The news should have been inconsequential, or even a positive. It meant nothing to him to be the head of yet another ruined project, a glaring piece of proof that the First Order could be wounded.

What threw him into a panic was the fact that he wouldn't be near the ruined ship at all. He'd spent every night, every spare second in the last three weeks combing the wreckage himself. In the times when he couldn't reach the ruined wing, he'd fervently paced the burn wards, or neurotically read through whatever damage report that came across his feed.

Twenty days since the attack, and there was still no sign of Lori nor Ardis. No hint as to their fate. No DNA matches from a disfigured patient, no evidence of their being alive or dead. If it weren't for the recent paper trail there would have been no proof that Ardis had ever existed at all.

Hux blinked, the sensation of it painful against his dried and restless eyes.

He knew very well that there was a chance that they had been sucked into space, or been vaporized upon impact. There was no small chance that he might never truly learn their fate, and that time might simply leave the two of them behind as nothing more than forgotten relics that no one would remember besides him.

The general slammed a fist down on his desk. The sudden impact being the only noise to break the relative silence.

His reassignment was final, having come directly from Kylo Ren.

He was meant to inspect the First Orders fuel depots.

_Fuel depots! Any junior officer that knows hypermatter from rhydonium could get the job done._

This was unacceptable. The task was far beneath him. It was a clear and petty slight from a man that had no authority to be supreme leader. It took him away from the single most important duty he had ever had.

Lori and Ardis had to be alive. They had to be somewhere. He had to cling to the belief –the knowledge- that they were somewhere he could find them. The suite was burned through, but Ardis hadn't been there. Mitaka hadn't been there. The hovercrib hadn't been there.

Hux's hand was sore when he unfurled it from a tightly wound fist. The last of the fires had burned themselves out days ago. He could hardly bear to leave the _Supremacy,_ and he had to force himself to take some bitter comfort in the fact that his family hadn't been found dead yet.

_Assuming they weren't vaporized in the blast._

"Stop that!" he said to the empty room.

His words echoed into the background hum of the ship's engines.

Breathing a breath that did nothing to calm him, he typed a short acknowledgement of his new orders. His hand hurt and the words twisted at his guts, but he hit send before he wrote something he would regret.

With that done, he shut the computer down and made to leave his office.

The fires were gone, and the wing had cooled. He wouldn't soon have the chance again, so he set off for the hanger.

He had eight hours before he was due to transfer. They were best spent searching the wreckage.

.***.***.***.***.

Anoat was a trash planet.

Used as a dumping site since the early days of the Galactic Empire, the atmosphere was toxic and stained a putrid yellow. Once home to sprawling cities and rolling planes, the surface was littered with debris of all sizes: from rust powder, to melted astromech droids, to collapsed buildings, to entire fleets worth of junked star ships.

Just a cursory scan on the planet would result in nothing but mounds of useless data, and even if someone knew that the _Falcon_ was hidden on its polluted surface it might take days to signal its signature out from the millions of other half functioning transponders that littered the planet.

Or that was what Lori had been told during the Resistance's general meeting.

Once again, everyone had crowded into the main room of the _Falcon_. The leadership seemed more worn and haggard every time she saw them up close. It had been a long time since Lori was well and truly on the run, and even the shabbiness of the mercenaries had looked like military precision compared to these people.

"We only have two personal breathing rigs. The air outside is toxic, so until we find more everyone is going to have to stay put!" Poe shouted to be heard through the densely packed room.

This was pathetic.

"I'll go," Rey was the first to volunteer. Already standing at the front of the room, no one challenged her.

"I'm going too," Rose limped up, leaning heavily on one of the two crutches.

Finn was quick to speak, "No, you're not."

"I'm the only mechanic we have left." Rose's voice rose above the crowd, though only the top of her head was visible to Lori, "If anyone can scrape together a generator or breathing rig, it's me."

Poe tried to step between the two of them, "Yeah, and if the _Falcon'_ s oxygen scrubbers fail, we're all doomed. Stay here, and keep the ship running." Before either Rose or Finn got the chance to speak again, Poe turned back to the room, "Does anyone else have experience scavenging?"

"I grew up in a junkyard!" Dak offered with a shout.

Poe's head dipped to the side, frustrated with the lack of options but seeing nothing better, "Alright merc, that's close enough. You got the job. Everyone else…"

Lori stopped listening, sure that her job would be little more than staying out of the way.

After a moment the room began to clear. Much to her chagrin, two people took a shift in the cockpit. Resigning herself to stay in the main room, Lori slouched onto the bench that curled around a holochess table. Dak was leaving, Brixie had rushed to Rose's side. Lex was nowhere to be found, and Poe had disappeared into the back halls to have a private chat with Leia. Lori considered returning to the makeshift med-bay, but no one would try talking to Mitaka besides Brixie.

Besides, Lori wanted to keep an eye on the cockpit. Just a second would be enough time to slip in and send a message. She had thought over the words she would send to Armitage a thousand times, and her fingers itched for the chance to type them.

As the last dregs of the resistance cleared the room, one of them lingered at the back.

Lori tried not to look like she was watching anything in particular as Finn hesitated. She hadn't spoken to him too often, since he was usually in the company of Rey or Leia.

Finn had been avoiding the sick room. He'd visited a few times while Rose was being treated, but ever since she'd gotten back to her feet, he had made a point not to be worried about the First Order officer in the back.

He had heard a few words about Lori, most of them coming second hand from someone who had talked with the medic. She seemed nice enough, and anyone that had earned the First Order's wrath was automatically a friend in his eyes.

But… he had a bed feeling about Lori. He wasn't sure why; she had done nothing to give him a pause for thought, and she might as well have been the picture of innocence, holding an infant in a makeshift sling.

Lori shifted slightly, turning her attention to the wriggling newborn in her arms.

Finn used the commotion as his signal to leave the room. As he hurried down a hall, his skin prickled with the sense that he was being watched as he left.

At the edge of Lori's vision she saw the former trooper slip around a corner and disappear into the ship. She hadn't spoken to him, but she knew a suspicious look when one was aimed at her.

Rocking Ardis into a nap, she added one more person to the list of people to be wary of.


	3. Outposts

The _Titan_ fuel station was a sad sliver of barely enforced order in a forgotten corner of the galaxy. Hux wasn't even sure why there was an entire fuel station parsecs away from anything that mattered. Not a single capital ship had traveled through this sector, and it made absolutely no sense to waste the time and resources it took to keep the fueling station operational.

Of course, he was actively looking for reasons to be upset. It seemed to be the only thing keeping him sane these days. Skipping meals and sleep in favor of yelling at the few people that still had to answer to him was starting to take its toll. With the sole exception of short fits of exhaustion where he collapsed in his office chair, he hadn't slept. He hadn't even bothered taking a new suite on the _Supremacy_ after the first one burned.

At the moment, he was on yet another lambda shuttle, going to yet another pointless station. Once again denied a trooper escort, the only other person on the shuttle besides him and the pilot was his new aid.

General Hux had dismissed Sergeant Ullis, on account of his being wildly incompetent. His replacement was Petty Officer Murrin. A severe woman in her mid-twenties, she wore her black hair in a tightly bound regulation bun. Quick acting and unflappable, Hux loathed that she seemed more put together than him at any given moment.

"What are the status updates on the _Supremacy_?" he asked for the second time since their flight began.

Murrin knew very well why he was asking, "None, sir."

"None?" He repeated the word with a venom, "Wrong answer, petty officer."

 _Mitaka never would have talked back._ Hux didn't even try to ignore the wayward thought as he watched the petty officer slowly reach for her data pad.

"No new survivors reported, sir." She began, her eyes carefully focused on the screen rather than her boss, "ICU burn wards are now at eighty percent capacity. One hundred thirty-five thousand names remain on the missing in action register."

Murrin tried to hide her hesitation for a second before reading further.

Hux was staring intently and saw her waver, "The report, petty officer."

"High command has convened to discuss if the missing should be declared dead, sir."

"Have they now?"

Even Murrin had to fight not to wince at Hux's words.

High command. They were like sharks in the water, circling whenever they smelled blood. Hux would never admit it, but he was wounded, bleeding profusely into the metaphorical storming sea.

He should be supreme leader, not some petulant child.

He should be back on the _Finalizer_ , coming home to Lori and Ardis after a long day on the bridge. They should be safe after so much, after being flung through a terrible and untamed galaxy, after he had promised Lori that they would be safe.

She thought she had watched him die. She had been crying into his arms, demanding that he wouldn't do it again.

He'd promised.

_Did I watch them die?_

The edge of his eyes stung and he felt a pressure at the back of his throat. Of course he hadn't. Of course he hadn't!

"…reconvene on the third."

Murrin had continued reading the report. Hux wasn't sure what she had said, having been too busy in his own head.

He would have made a harsh comment, but he hadn't the energy. Even if he had, he would have been interrupted by the sudden crackling of the intercom.

"Beginning landing procedures. ETA, ten minutes," the pilot spoke, completely unaware of the tension in the passenger compartment.

Murrin was done with the report, and Hux was already tired of his mission.

"Remain in the shuttle when we land," he told the petty officer.

"Yes, sir." She replied curtly, hiding the fact that she was more than a little thankful that she wouldn't be forced along on the inspection.

Hux was in no mood to waste time looking over the station. He was in even less of a mood to drag around an assistant that made him seem disheveled in comparison. This was just another way to waste time.

Another thing to get angry at.

Another thing to distract from his greatest fear.

.***.***.***.***.

Two weeks on Anoat hadn't done anyone any favors.

The sky was a constant sickly yellow, and even the purified air on the _Falcon_ reeked of rot and decay. The Resistance had struggled for the first few days, and just recently had they managed to scrounge enough parts to make a few airtight huts. No more than four small structures surrounded the _Falcon_ , one command tent, a workshop, and two haphazard living quarters.

The constant whirring of generators was a worrisome reminder that decades old and under-fueled machines were the only thing sparing them from all piling back into the _Falcon_ for safety.

For now, at least, the decrepit generators meant that the Resistance weren't on top of each other at every waking moment. The cockpit wasn't even constantly manned anymore, and Lori had even strolled through the main hall of the ship once or twice without being seen.

Lori would have used the shred of privacy to her advantage, if it weren't for the fact that the _Falcon_ had been taken offline.

Only to be used for purifying air and water, the ship's computers and transmitter had deactivated. Though it would be extremely difficult to key in on the _Falcons_ position on the planet, any signal could be found with enough time and resources, and the pursuing First Order had both.

Neither Lori nor the rest of the First Order had given the resistance enough credit. They weren't complete idiots, and they knew how to stay hidden.

The only working transponder was now out of the ship, tucked away in the command tent. In an emergency, the plan was to leave the command tent running at full power while the _Falcon_ fled. That way any pursuers would waste their time attacking an empty hut.

Of course, that also meant that Lori's only chance at sending a message was in that hut and across a poisonous field. Even if she had the chance to get there, the command tent was being staffed around the clock by the Resistance's highest ranking members.

At the moment, she was taking a short walk to the med-bay. It was less of a field hospital, and more of a cramped bedroom now. A month on the run had brought the crew as close as could be, but they still avoided Mitaka. The only ones who seemed to speak to him were Lori and Brixie.

As Lori drew nearer the room, she caught the faint echoes of a conversation.

"You're lucky that a muscle didn't get stuck in the fracture." Brixie said.

"Pardon?" A worried Mitaka replied.

"Sometimes a strand of muscle will get caught in an orbital fracture, a broken eye socket I mean." Brixie's voice grew clearer, and Lori heard a confidence in it that only seemed to come about when the woman was talking about medicine, "It's not life threatening, but it takes a surgery to fix."

"Oh- Lori." Mitaka cut himself off as Lori appeared in the doorway.

She had gone over their cover story a dozen times, but she still worried that he would slip. For now at least, he had managed. Brixie sat to his good side, clearly within his limited view.

 _Brixie's not exactly a tough customer._ Lori thought before worrying, _what happens when he needs to start explaining himself to the other twenty people we're stuck with?_

"Good to see that you're up," Lori replied before taking a seat on an unoccupied bed, "how's it looking, doc?"

Brixie was answering Lori, but it felt rude to talk around the injured man in the room, "Given the circumstances, I think you're doing great Dopheld."

The lieutenant nervously looked between the two women, visibly moving his head back and forth to compensate for his newly narrow field of view. Eventually, he decided that replying directly to Brixie was the better move, "Th-thank you. And, if you don't mind, I-I prefer to be called Mitaka."

"You sure?"

He nodded, wondering if he had violated some obscure part of rebel culture, "I've always been called by my last name."

"All right," Brixie didn't like the formality of it, but made sure not to show it "Whatever you say Mitaka." The medic turned to speak to Lori, but stayed within Mitaka's sight, "How's Ardis doing?"

Lori looked down to the infant, who smiled back up at the attention, "So far, so good, but I'd kill to get her into some fresh air. Being locked up on an old freighter can't be good for her."

A sympathetic look crossed the medic's features, "It'll be ok. We can't stay on Anoat forever. Maybe the next planet will have some fresh air."

"Maybe," Lori made her disappointment obvious, "but there's no telling how long it'll be before we move on."

Brixie searched for a reassuring comment, but before she found one a hiss and a shout came from down the hall.

"Brixie!" heavy foot falls followed the word, "Brix! We need you in the workshop!"

Dak skittered to a stop in the doorway, breathing rig halfway torn off and the stench of outside still clinging to his clothes, "Klaud damn near cut a tendril off!"

Despite the suddenness of the situation, the medic was quick to get to her feet. In one fluid motion she grabbed the half empty med kit and then took the tangled breathing rig that Dak shoved towards her.

"How bad is it?" she breathed out just before setting the mask in place.

"I don't know, but there was a lot of blood." Dak had to shout the rest of his message as the medic began sprinting down the hall.

She was gone as suddenly as Dak had arrived. The silence seemed deafening compared to just a moment before. Lori watched her old friend linger in the hall.

Dak took a nervous look between Lori and Mitaka before asking, "Hey, uh, Lori. Can we have a word in private for a second?"

Her guard immediately went up. Dak was a known quantity, his tells were as clear as day to Lori, and the nervous darting of his eyes told her that not even he wanted to have the conversation he intended to start.

Lori glanced back at Mitaka, careful to look considerate but not too friendly before turning back to Dak, "Sure, lead the way."

Dak took his own meaning from the gesture, but wordlessly stepped into the hall. Lori followed with little more than a wave to Mitaka, who thought that the motion was very reminiscent of a signal to wait in place.

The two former bounty hunters wandered down the hall. When they got to the half empty storage room, Dak checked over his shoulder for eavesdroppers.

"That bad, huh?" Lori called out the familiar nervous tick.

Dak sighed, his shoulders deflating as he did, "Maybe. Look Lori, I know it probably doesn't matter at this point, but I got to know what that bounty was for."

Lori wasn't shocked that a lingering guilt was eating at Dak, but she had thought that he was embarrassed enough to never bring it up again. And the secrecy in his asking felt out of place. The whole ship knew that she had been taken prisoner by the First Order. That very fact had been one of the things that gained the rebels' trust.

"Does this all go back to that job? Did I-"

A raised hand brought Dak's words to a halt. It was Lori's turn to check the hall for anyone that might overhear them, "That was a long time ago."

"But you went there, and you damn near knocked my jaw out of place for the trouble."

Lori weighed her options. Dak already knew that she had some connection to the First Order, though he assumed that it was a bad relationship. He had no reason to guess that she had worked there, lived there, and then started a family there.

Making him think that he owed her might come in handy, but it was risky. She couldn't afford risks right now.

"Give it to me straight, Lori," Dak went on, prompted by her pause. Lori hadn't realized that she had been silent for that long, "Did the job go south? Did they chase you out to Bastion? Did they shoot your-"

"Stop." Lori cut him off.

She hadn't forgotten her first lie to an old friend. Armitage's death had almost happened twice since then, and it was still a very real fear.

"Stop," she repeated softly, "Alright, fine. Things turned sour with the First Order. I don't know if they're still looking for me though."

To Lori's annoyance, twisting people to suit her needs didn't come as naturally as it once did. She knew there was a way to make this conversation work for her, but it was elusive. Dak had already decided that his suspicions were correct, and denying them would only look bad.

A shadow passed over Dak's features, and he once again checked the hall, "Does that lieutenant know you were there?"

Mitaka knew nothing, and enough to doom them both.

She shook her head, keeping true to the cover story, "He's just some kid that had a change of heart when he saw a lady and a baby in a cage."

Dak shrugged, "Lucky for you then."

With that, Lori saw a thread of conversation to pull on, "All the luck in the world won't help me if the rest of the Resistance finds out about that job. Do me a favor, and don't mention it."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He gave an overly compliant wave of the hand that Lori recognized as proof of a lie.

"I mean it Dak," she spoke in a rushed whisper without sparing the time to check the hall, "I don't want to get even more caught up in all this than I already am. Galactic politics isn't my speed, and it isn't yours either. If I had it my way, I'd just disappear out to some no name system in the outer-rim."

The bounty hunter turned mercenary turned rebel shirked back at Lori's words. "Fine. Not a word."

Lori shifted her hold on Ardis and the sling, "I'm dead serious Dak. If you screw me over on this, I'll do you worse than a dislocated jaw."

"Alright, alright." He finally seemed to be genuine, "but you sure as hell can't leave now. It's the empire reborn out there."

He spoke a genuine warning, an attempt to point out an obvious danger to a headstrong friend. But all Dak managed to do was remind Lori that she had chosen a side, and that she wasn't safe with the rebels.

Dak didn't know what his words meant to Lori.

"I know."


	4. Chasing Leads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once again, while I treat the movies as a hard cannon, I look at the rest of the extended universe as more inspiration than anything. That said, some of you might recognize Season 2, Episode 11 of Star Wars Resistance. I don't watch the show myself, but I thought it would be kind of fun to incorporate a modified version of it here.

The _Titan_ was a derelict mess, and its crew was wildly incompetent. Hux had spent no longer than five minutes on the station, and it was already clear that the troopers that had greeted him hadn't the slightest understanding of their own station. They were so ill informed that they couldn't even escort him on a tour of the station.

Hux furiously typed away into a datapad, more than ready to find a blueprint of the station and guide himself.

_The gall. These people are worthless and this station isn't worth the durasteel it's built from._

As he searched his records of the vessel, he did find that a trooper commander of some repute was also scheduled for a visit. Distantly wondering if the lower ranking commander had gotten the competent escorts, Hux had a new demand.

"Trooper," he called out to the stormtrooper captain, marked as such by a red pauldron.

The soldier stiffened to attention.

"I'm sure you don't know it, but Commander Pyre is also aboard the station. Contact his guard and have them meet me in an appropriate conference room."

"Yes, sir." The captain wasn't at all sure who that commander was, nor did he care why the general might want to speak with them.

Hux glared at the captain as he went about his task. Commander Pyre wasn't particularly remarkable, but he had recently been tasked with locating and destroying any remaining Resistance cells.

Hux very well knew that his day couldn't get any worse on the _Titan_. If Pyre were failing miserably, it wouldn't dampen his mood. But if the trooper had somehow succeeded in locating the last dregs of the Resistance, then Hux would have some shred of joy to distract himself from his unrelenting misery.

"Sir," the trooper captain approached him once again, "Commander Pyre will meet you in the tower briefing room."

"Very well, take me there."

A long pause came from the troopers.

Hux had long ago decided that the two troopers before him were going to be punished for their incompetence. He was even on the verge of telling them as much, but a wayward technician had walked past the end of the hall, and was be called over the captain.

The technician seemed very young, and Hux was sure that he couldn't possibly be fully trained. If the troopers were under the impression that he was going to take pity on the teenage technician, they were sorely mistaken.

"I haven't got all day," Hux said just as the captain told the technician where they were going.

"O-of course," the soldiers let the child answer, "right this way. Sir."

The four of them went down a defunct hall, dim and cluttered with debris that nearly blocked their way to a turbolift. As Hux turned his disapproving eyes away from the corridor, he sent a series of orders back to Petty Officer Murrin. He had his doubts about the station, and wanted a full report.

The whirring of the lift came near. Hux tried to tell himself that this job was important, that he was still worthwhile.

While he was still in his own head, the lift arrived. Hux and the small gaggle of personnel he had acquired stepped onto it, the doors quickly clamping shut behind them. After a heavy moment had passed Hux lowered the datapad, looking for something to pick at.

"This refueling station is in shambles, it's disgraceful." He hoped that is words were causing a panic in the other men, "The _Titan_ falls below every standard I could possibly set for it. A truly staggering waste of resources."

So much seemed like a waste. Even his time had turned into something of so little value that it seemed well spent on tormenting troopers and technicians.

Hux knew he was being a petty bully, but he desperately needed some shred of control, "Perhaps I'll have it destroyed."

The troopers tried to hide a nervous shuffle, unsure if Hux meant that they should be destroyed along with the station. The technician didn't hide his emotion quite as well, and shook as he turned to face the general.

It had been a long time since anyone tried to challenge him directly. "Do you have something to say, technician?"

The young man had an angry spark in his eye, Hux was ready to stamp it out.

Before the moment escalated, the door whooshed open to reveal a bronze clad trooper.

The tech shirked back. Hux's focus went to the newcomer.

"General Hux," Commander Pyre greeted the more senior officer as he entered the turbolift, his own trooper escort joining the already crowded compartment.

"Pyre," Hux nodded at the helmeted man, "I expected to meet you at the board room."

"Likewise, sir." The commander wasn't sure what the general wanted with him, but he knew to be wary of any high command member appearing unannounced and demanding a meeting.

The turbolift opened once more. This time the technician stepped into a dimmed hall, his head lowered as he directed them, "This way. Your meeting room is the second door on the left."

The young technician wasn't willful anymore, but he was still failing at his job. Even a sloppy guide would show him to his final destination. Just as the general was about to say as much, the turbolift was clamping shut and speeding away from the floor.

Hux silenced his harsh comment. The _Titan_ was irredeemable, but he had more important things to discuss with the commander besides the busy work that Kylo Ren had given him.

"After you, sir." The commander offered.

Hux took the lead, hoping to hear something of the Resistance's destruction and resenting the fast that he wasn't the one to deliver it.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori had left with Dak only a second ago, and Mitaka hadn't yet dropped his guard.

He cursed inwardly. He had wanted a private word with the major. She rarely seemed to be alone, and the few times that it had just been them in the room he had either been delirious with fever or half asleep.

Whatever planet they had landed on obviously wasn't safe, never mind that the rebels might prove murderous if they found out the truth.

_Assuming I even know the truth._

The lieutenant might be grievously wounded, but he was no fool. Lori clearly had a relationship with the rebels. The medic and that one twiggish man in particular spoke like they were old friends. And never mind that Lori spoke with a thick wild space accent that was a far cry from what one would expect from a mid-rim native.

She seemed concerned enough that both of them survive, but a few sharp suspicions pricked at Mitaka. That one sergeant under her command had been executed for treason, had she been part of the Resistance then? Had she let a scapegoat die to save her own life?

 _Does General Hux know?_ The lieutenant wondered in the empty room, _he must._

_But then again, how could he? Of all the people, he would never tolerate a Resistance sympathizer._

Having a child with a man she meant to betray all along was cold and cruel, though Mitaka didn't put a thing past the Resistance.

But, he had seen her break down completely at the destruction of the Starkiller base.

_Was that an act?_

He couldn't believe that anyone could pretend to have emotions so visceral.

Mitaka's thoughts swirled, and he was no closer to coming to a decision regarding Lori or her actions when a familiar face peeked around the door frame.

FN-2187.

Mitaka stiffened in his seat and then immediately tried to relax in a way that hid the fact that he had ever tensed at all. He had seen the traitor's face as a hologram on the bridge. Only months ago, it could have been a lifetime since Mitaka had been Hux's aid. The wayward stormtrooper had seemed like such an inconsequential thing at the time. Just a series of letters and numbers that Mitaka had blasted out of space with the _Finalizer'_ s ventral cannons.

Mitaka tried to assure himself that the defunct trooper had no way of knowing that he had been the one to pull the trigger on him over Jakku.

Finn had been woken up from a nap by a commotion of shouts and hisses from the rest of the ship. As he began to look for the cause of the sounds, he saw Lori and Dak wonder down the hall, leaving the sick bay open behind them.

He hadn't expected to find the First Order officer awake, and he hoped that the distain on his features was obvious. "Oh. You're awake."

"…H-hello." Mitaka hadn't the slightest clue of how to approach the conversation.

Worried about her true motives or not, he wished that Lori was back to take charge of the conversation.

Finn took a quick glance down the hall. When he didn't see any signs of Lori or Dak returning, he stepped into the room, "I just want you to know, I don't trust you. Got it?"

"Uh, p-pardon?" Mitaka wasn't sure if he should be speaking loudly to attract attention, or softly to try to calm the situation.

"The rest of the crew might have bought your good guy act, but I don't." Finn kept his distance from Mitaka, as if the very idea of standing next to him was repulsive.

"What?"

"An officer rescuing a baby?" Finn raised his eyebrows and spoke in an accusation, "I don't buy it. I know what you people do with children."

The lieutenant hesitated for a second.

Bringing children aboard to be trained as troopers was unfortunate, but their parents were usually dead from an attack, and Mitaka thought that anything was better being an orphan in lawless space.

Mitaka bit his tongue to stop a harsh comment. He had read FN-2187's file. Brought in at infancy, the First Order had been the only home the trooper had ever known. They had cared for him, clothed him, fed him, and given him a unit that may as well have been a family

The lieutenant's mind raced for a rebuttal, but he hadn't settled on one before the former trooper spoke again.

"Huh." Finn made his own meaning from Mitaka's hesitating, "Guess you don't have anything to say to that. I'm not surprised."

"Hold on!" Mitaka might have been nervous, he might have been a tiny bit confused and more than a little afraid, but he wasn't going to be talked down to by a traitor.

Finn expected the same angry officer rant he had witnessed a thousand times before, and he was ready to talk back this time. Mitaka was about to give it to him, and only just remembered to stick to the cover story that Lori had created for them.

"I never had a hand in the stormtrooper program." Mitaka began weakly, knocked off balance by trying to stick to the lie, "Never mind that I risked my life to rescue Lori and her daughter. Does that mean nothing to you people?"

Two voices echoed down the hall, and the footsteps that carried them grew closer as well. Upon noticing them, Finn took a hasty step out of the room. Before Mitaka was able to say anything, Finn looked over his shoulder for a final comment.

"Just know that I'm keeping my eye on you."

Mitaka wasn't sure if he was supposed to be offended as the former trooper disappeared around the corner.

.***.***.***.***.

The meeting room was barely functional. A holoprojector was inlaid to a central table, and the image it cast of the galaxy was blurred. Despite the disgraceful setting, Commander Pyre had delivered a competent overview of his activities across the Outer Rim.

Unsurprisingly, the Resistance leaders that fled Crait hadn't been located. A few wayward rebels had met their fate at the end of a trooper's blaster, but there hadn't been any meaningful progress in destroying any of the remaining Resistance cells.

Hux didn't have to suppress any sighs or sharp comments through the briefing, he hadn't had his hopes up in the first place. As the slowly rotating map of the galaxy blinked away and Pyre officially ended his update, a sharp thought did pick at Hux.

_Lori would have found the Resistance leaders. She could have gotten information out of the rebels._

"Do you have any questions, general?" Pyre prompted the man.

"No, commander," Hux squared his shoulders and tried to tell himself that this and everything else wasn't a gargantuan waste of time, "That will b-"

A deep thud rumbled through the walls of the station.

Hux cast a narrow eyed look to the door. Pyre shifted his stance, his expression hidden by a helmet and his armor clinking slightly.

Another heavy sound reverberated through the walls. In its wake, a hint of garbled static came from the commander. Pyre's hand flew upward, coming to a rest at the side of his helmet.

Pyre spoke before Hux demanded an explanation, "Resistance agents. Hanger bay four."

One curse after another sped through Hux's mind. None of them made it out as the general shouted an order, "Don't just stand here! Go after them!"

He hadn't even finished speaking before Pyre was sprinting out of the meeting room and into the dim hall. Left alone, Hux felt himself deflate as he stood from his seat.

The station rumbled once again. Louder than the last two, Hux was able to identify it as an explosion. Taking tired steps, he carried himself across the room and down the same path that Pyre had set off on.

Hux's own journey to through the station was slow and confused, nut following then sounds of destruction lead him to one of the upper hangars.

To his utter lack of surprise, General Hux found the hanger bay in shambles.

Beyond the magnetic field protecting them from the vacuum of space, there was a distant speck of a ship. Scarcely a second after he noticed it, the speck stretched into a distorted line before disappearing into hyperspace.

Hux stepped past a crate. Its surface was dotted with black pock marks from a blaster, a few of them so fresh that thin wisps of smoke still wafted up from them.

Commander Pyre stood near the edge of the hanger bay, hand to the side of his head as he listened to a hastily communicated report.

"Sir," Pyre stiffened only so much as to come to attention as he watched Hux approach, "the rebels have fled. A video feed from reactor room five suggests that they have an accomplice."

The general didn't let his hand curl into a fist. He did find himself trapped in a sharp little memory that cut through his mind.

It had been long ago, before Lori or him had confessed their affection for each other. Lori sat at the table of his _Finalizer_ suite, playing her delicate game and collecting information, _"If you plan on starting a war, you can expect your spy problem to quadruple."_

He had been so confident, so sure that there was nothing that the galaxy could do to him. Years ago, he thought he'd had it all. That there was nothing he could possibly lose that wouldn't be his once again. He had meant it when he replied, _"I don't plan on starting a war. I plan on finishing one."_

Now where was he? What was he doing? Refusing to grieve a loss that he dare not accept?

He had started a war and he had ended it. But his enemies had grown regardless, and Lori wasn't here to help him anymore.

When Hux finally managed to pull himself away from the loathsome thoughts, he spoke with a quiet bitterness, "Find the traitor. Execute them."

"Yes, Sir. They won't allude us much longer. And we will find the thief, even coming here shows that they must be desperate." Pyre reassured.

Hux looked at the distant stars. A TIE, deployed too late to do anything, zipped by. The Resistance was desperate, possibly even more so that they had been at Crait.

When the general spoke, the words were meant as a critique of Pyre's apparent confidence, but they felt like admission of his own state of mind, "Desperation can be a dangerous thing."


	5. Who Are You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday y'all. I hope you have fun reading this chapter, because I had fun writing it (messing with Mitaka has become a favorite pass time of mine)

Life on Anoat had gotten far too routine for Lori's liking.

The Resistance had managed to scrape together enough parts to make two functioning ships in addition the _Falcon._ Finn and Poe had taken one, their mission being to track down new weapons for the Resistance. Losing two of its most prominent members had put a damper on the rest of the Resistance. Lori had tried to leverage the rift, seeing if there was any way she could convince one of the others to help her slip off the planet.

She had nearly been successful, but then the other ship had come online, and those most eager to leave Anoat had quickly volunteered to go on an extended scouting mission. Lori had searched for some way to join them, but even she couldn't convince the rebels that brining a baby along on a dangerous mission was a good idea.

Instead, she had been left to languish. Half of the rebels were gone, leaving only a dozen people on Anoat besides Lori, Mitaka, and Ardis.

At the moment, Lori was sealed away in a hut. The _Falcon_ was undergoing heavy repairs, and enough living space had been cleared on the planet that no one needed to be crammed onto the ship. One of the few multi-roomed dwellings, the hut was obviously made from scavenged materials. The airtight but thin walls let through the constant droning of generators. If Lori were being charitable, she could have pretended that they were similar to the reassuring drone of an ship's engine. Instead, they were only constant reminders that she was lightyears away from home.

Lori took a heavy breath of the stinking air.

Ardis watched her with an intent expression. The rebels had been thoughtful enough to cobble together enough scraps to make a crib for the infant, though no one had found the miniature repulsorlifts needed for a hovercrib.

The little girl had grown. While Lori wasn't sure of Ardis' exact weight, she was sure that Ardis had put on a few pounds. Three months of cramped living and fruitless escape attempts hadn't put a damper on the little girl, who was now capable of sitting up on her own.

Lori took a step towards the crib. Ardis watched her approach. Moving her head took Ardis off balance, and she nearly toppled to her side. A quick movement from Lori caught the infant and gently guided her into a laying position. Ardis came to a rest on her stomach, but shakily tried to support herself on her elbows and forearms.

"You can't be knocked down, can you?" Lori resisted the urge to pat the baby on her back, acutely aware that she could barely support her own weight.

Ardis tried to look up at her mother's voice, but raising her head past ninety degrees was still a tall task. Instead, she dropped down to roll onto her back, her wide blue eyes locking on Lori when she completed the movement.

"You're a clever one too," Lori tried to chuckle at the little movement, but a lingering sadness stopped her.

 _Armie should be here. We should be with him. Ardis is growing up without him, and there isn't a damn thing I've been able to do about it._ _Three months isn't a long time for me, but it's a lifetime for Ardis._

Before self-loathing coated the rest of Lori's thoughts, she searched for a distraction.

Ardis had brought a hand to her mouth, and was a second away from using it as a chew toy.

"No." Lori gently moved the infants hand away, "that's dirty."

Ardis looked as offended as a baby could and took a deep breath that Lori was sure was going to turn into a shriek.

Before Ardis started, a door hissed open in the distance, and an extra burst of putrid air drifted through the hut. Ardis looked for the sound. Lori put her lingering sadness away, hiding it behind an ever-present wall of resentment and rage. Then she covered that up as well, taking care to hold on to the paper thin mask of a thankful woman.

Hurried footsteps and a series of opening and shutting doors echoed through the thin walls and set Lori on guard. She had just put herself between Ardis' crib and the door when it slid open to reveal a huffing Mitaka.

She wasn't surprised to see him, but he was uncharacteristically disheveled. His uniform had been a total loss, and he was left to wear the same worn jackets that the rest of the resistance favored. No one had found a passable eye patch either, and his wound was covered by a thin shred of cloth that had to be taped in place.

Within those limitations, he tried to hold to the same standards that the First Order had kept. While he was still clean shaven, his hair had grown lanky. Brixie had tried to help him trim it, but the result had been a choppy mess.

Injured or not, the rebels had put him to work. While he hadn't made many friends, he had managed to impress some of the others, Lori included.

He wasn't the best actor, but he had held to their cover story well enough to keep the others from growing suspicious.

Mitaka tried to stifle his still rushed breath, "The hut is empty, and no one is outside. Have you got a minute to talk?"

He was trying to appear calm, but Lori wasn't fooled for a second. It hadn't been lost on her that the lieutenant had been eyeing her increasingle wearily over the last months.

"Depends on the topic." She didn't have to play perfectly dumb around the younger man, but she hadn't ever been completely truthful. By the looks of him, he was aware of that fact as well.

Mitaka had thought through this conversation dozens of times, bracing himself for some terrible realization in each one. The past months had only shown that Lori was perfectly comfortable in the company of criminals, and Mitaka had grown progressively more afraid for his own life.

At this point, he wasn't even sure that Lori was trying to return to the First Order. Outside of a single assurance two months ago, she hadn't breathed a word about their escape.

Now was the only time he had found that didn't carry the immediate risk of being followed or otherwise disturbed, and if he were going to learn Lori's true allegiance, it was now or never.

"What are we doing here?" He began, already annoyed at himself for failing to be as articulate as he wanted.

Lori tried to listen past the hum of generators for any hint of someone approaching. When she found none, she was left to focus exclusively on the lieutenant, "We're not doing anything that'll blow our cover." She reminded him.

"Major, please. I haven't-"

"Shh!" Lori nearly jumped at her old title. Dak was already suspicious that she had spent more time working for the First Order than simply showing up to scope out a job. Even if no one was around, she couldn't let go of the perfectly rational fear of being found out. She didn't need anybody else whispering rumors.

Mitaka tried again, flinching at the sudden fire in Lori's eyes, "L-lori, I mean. We've been here for months."

"Do you think I don't know that?" she fought to rein in the spark of adrenaline, "I'm getting us back to the order."

When? How? The lieutenant kept his questions from his tongue, cowed by Lori's anger.

He didn't have to say anything, Lori saw his thoughts clearly painted across his features.

She didn't let go of the anger or pressure, but a month's long fatigue drained her energy. Beyond Armitage there wasn't a single soul who knew the full story, and she preferred to keep it that way. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure that she could make the lieutenant trust her on half-truths alone. She needed an ally, and Mitaka was the closest thing she was going to get.

Lori bit down a bitter realization; that she needed help, that she was slipping. A small part of her mind wouldn't stop telling herself that she was better than this; that a half blind lieutenant in his early twenties shouldn't even be a challenge to talk around.

She picked up Ardis, hoping that it would do something to chase away the darkened thoughts.

"Sit down." She looked at the infant in her arms, but addressed Mitaka.

A gloom clung to Lori's words, and Mitaka nervously watched her back before doing as he was told.

When Lori heard the bed creak beneath the lieutenant's weight, she slowly turned around. Holding Ardis closely, she felt the infant relax against her even as she tensed.

"Armitage already knows everything I'm about to tell you," she began, "so there's no reason for you to get worked up over it."

Her harsh instruction to be calm only set Mitaka on edge, but he said nothing.

Lori leaned against the crib, fighting against her screaming instincts. They told her to hide, to keep secret everything she was about to say. "I know you're confused, and I can see that you don't trust me," Lori tried to soften her expression as she spoke.

Mitaka opened his mouth to deny the accusations before admitting to himself that she was right.

"I'm not a rebel, and I never was," Lori began with the most obvious concern. "Two years ago, I was a bounty hunter. There was a spy problem within the First Order, and I got hired to fix it."

"But…" Mitaka started and then drifted to a stop. Internal investigations was a job for the FOSB. The FOSB, who were well known to be loathed by the general.

_Did… He couldn't have hired outside help just to avoid the FOSB. Could he have?_

Lori watched the young man bring himself to a stop, more than ready to take the excuse to stop talking.

"S-sorry, go on." Mitaka's thoughts were whirring through his head with such force that he barely heard himself speak.

"It looks like you already figured out that Armitage was the one that hired me. Long story short, one thing led to another, and here we are." Lori still desperately wanted to stay tight on the details, but there were a few other things that would be useful for him to know, "Long story slightly less short, Dak was the one that set me up with the First Order in the first place."

Mitaka was still grappling with the fact that the mild mannered supply officer from the outer rim was actually a loyalty-for-hire bounty hunter. From wild space, no less! Assuming her accent wasn't as fake as the personnel file that Mitaka had read. When Lori mentioned Dak -of all people- being involved, their friendship suddenly made much more sense. Most importantly, Mitaka was left with a terrifying realization.

"The rebel knows about this?!"

"No." Lori stopped him with a word. "Dak only knows that he set me up for a job, but I told him that it fell through in a bad way."

Shocked or not, Mitaka was starting to think through the scenario, "Which is why they believe you were in prison on the _Supremacy_?"

Lori debated on how simple she should make things for Mitaka, "Well… mostly."

Mitaka said nothing, but he looked increasingly wary.

"You remember that bounty hunter General Hux sent you to meet and pay in exchange for my freedom? Well, that may have been a bit of an act. On my part at least. I let that guy kidnap me to get away from Dak, Brixie and Lex."

Mitaka rubbed a hand against his face, like that would wipe away the confusion, "what were you doing with them in the first place?"

"I was on Bastion to have Ardis. After the planet fell, I fled. A turn of fate had me run into them."

The lieutenant didn't even blink at the fact that she had been on Bastion. He did huff slightly at the realization that the general had been leading a very complicated double life. The general's nights spent sneaking out suddenly made perfect sense, doubly so since his accomplice was a step away from a career criminal.

What other things had happened behind closed doors? What other secret lives were unfolding just out of his sight? A single member of high command shouldn't have been able to so easily and secretly imbed a bounty hunter into the First Order's systems. Never mind that Hux shouldn't have been able to plan an entire diplomatic mission –an alliance between empires- for a hidden personal motive.

While the lieutenant took a long pause, Lori was left with time to think. She could see him drawing lines in roughly the correct places, but she saw him coming to his own inconvenient conclusions.

Before he went too far, Lori spoke again, "The rebels served their purpose then, and I survived long enough to make it back home. Truth be told, I didn't expect to ever see them again."

Was that the truth? Could Mitaka trust anything that Lori said? A bounty hunter's word was only as good as their pay, assuming that part of her story had even been true.

He found a few fragile words, "And so we're not only trying to escape, but the rebels are actively trying to keep you by their side out of a misplaced sense of guilt."

Lori could tell that Mitaka was keeping his most critical questions to himself. That suited her just fine, "Basically. And that's why it's so important that you and I don't look too friendly."

"So that your old friend Dak doesn't grow suspicious?"

There was the accusation that Mitaka had been holding back a moment ago. Lori didn't have the time to deal with the lieutenant's mistrust so she decided to quash it early, "A friend from an old life that I've left behind, and one I'll be damned if I crawl back to."

Mitaka watched a dangerous gleam grow in Lori's eye.

She didn't leave him any time to comment on it, "The first chance I get, I'll transmit a message back to Armitage. He'll come for us. Until then, I'm going to need you to shut up, and play along. Got it?"

Mitaka at once felt ashamed and afraid to meet Lori's gaze. He hadn't known the first thing about the apparently bubbly major, but now he perfectly understood how terrifying of a woman she really was.

Her and the general suddenly made all the sense in the galaxy.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lori narrowed her eyes dangerously at the slip up.

"L-Lori! I meant, y-yes Lori," Mitaka stammered hastily.

He desperately hoped that he wouldn't have to keep up appearances in front of the rebels much longer. Knowing what he did now, he was even more sure that his life depended on it.

.***.***.***.***.

After months away on a fool's errand, Hux had returned to the _Finalizer_.

Hux still had his office. And there was his suite that he wouldn't dare return to. Captain Peavey was still manning the bridge, Kylo Ren having decided that such a task was beneath the supreme leader. The troopers hurried past Huxhim in the hall, and the officers didn't dare say a word to him unless required.

It seemed that several things had remained the same, but several more had changed.

The most galling difference was the ship's crew. Kylo Ren had called his cultist friends onto Hux's ship. The general could scarcely leave the bridge without coming across a destroyed computer terminal. Deeply ground scratches and scuffs had been carved into the halls that the knights frequented, their weapons carelessly swinging about. Protocol was disregarded more frequently that it was adhered to, and the general almost wished that he would be sent off on some other pointless assignment simply so that he might avoid Kylo Ren's personal dogs.

Rather than saying anything for his annoyance, the general kept to the bridge for shifts at a time, only retiring to his office when he could barely stand.

Even in the relative calm of the bridge, just standing made him see stars. It must have been days since he last ate. As he hid the swaying that no doubt affected his stance, Hux could hear Lori admonishing him.

" _Go eat something,"_ she would have told him, " _Get some sleep, before I have to give you and Ardis a bedtime."_

"… sir? Sir?" another voice interrupted the imagined one.

Hux looked at the source of the unwelcomed sound with tired eyes. His new aid was inattentively standing to his side.

Petty Officer Murrin had cracked under pressure, and had resigned. Her replacement was Lieutenant Sdin. Sdin was an abnormally relaxed officer, with his shiny brown hair worn as a tousled mob that was just short enough to fall within regulation. He spoke with an almost core world accent, and Hux made it his personal mission to teach the man discipline in the most unpleasant way possible.

"You've got a message waiting on you, sir." The lieutenant repeated himself.

Hux cast a dangerous look at the young man, "I'll take it in my office."

Though Sdin's sloppy appearance would have been an easy target for mindless anger, Hux found that he didn't have the presence of mind or the energy to be petty. Instead of finding the time to be annoyed with himself, the general stalked off of the bridge, leaving his useless aid lamely standing where he was left.

The familiar walk seemed to be filled with knowing whispers and sharp glances. Hux wasn't sure if he was letting his paranoia cloud his judgement as he came to his quiet office. Stepping into the room left him to wince against the palpable silence.

As Hux collapsed into the chair behind his desk, he considered the liquor cabinet that sat in the corner of the room. Eventually deciding against it, he turned his focus to the computer terminal.

The report was from Commander Pyre, and Hux wanted a clear head for whatever news the man might have.

The general's eyes widened before narrowing halfway through the document. Pyre was requesting that several millions of credits be put aside for bounties on the heads of the Resistance. Hux had assumed that that was already the case.

Reading further he found concise data readouts and succinct reporting on known Resistance agents. A rogue fueling station, run by resistance sympathizers, had been detected near D'Qar. The spy Vi Moradi had been seen in the outer rim. Resistance pilot Temmin Wexley had been spotted in a hutt-space ship yard. The _Millennium Falcon'_ s signature had even been detected in the mid-rim.

The apparently viable lead on the _Falcon_ had come from Tah'Nuhna. Pyre had attached a First Order fact sheet about the planet and its people to the message.

Hux appreciated the rare bit of competent reporting, but his mood was quickly soured by the realization that he was in no position to do anything with it.

He wasn't in a position to do much of anything, not lead an order that was rightfully his, nor to even do something as simple as learn his family's fate.

Hux looked away from his computer, eyes darting to the door. He knew very well that no one was coming in, and he wasn't doing anything nefarious besides. But he still hated appearing weak, letting any of the emotional turmoil bubble to the surface.

Satisfied that he was well and truly alone, he fished a battered holodisk out of this breast pocket. Carefully creaking it open left a grainy hologram to flutter to life. An unrecognizable Lori carried a bundle of blankets, Ardis' tiny face just clear enough to be seen in the nearly ruined image.

 _They're not gone. I refuse to believe it. I can't_.

He watched a white line run through the hologram. A lump began to ache at the back of his throat. Keeping the image steady in one hand, he pulled up the latest status report from the _Supremacy_ with the other.

Dated a week ago, it seemed as if the whole order had moved on from the tragedy. In the three months that had passed since the attack, the entirety of the broken wing had been cleared, and the overwhelming majority of its victims had recovered or been moved into less intensive care units.

Kylo Ren had ordered the wing to be scrapped. The rest of the colossal ship would remain in orbit around Crait, a grim half-capital circling a dead planet.

Predictably, there was no news about Lori or Ardis.

The general looked back to the battered holodisk.

He wasn't in any position to do anything, but it didn't seem like anyone cared when he did do something. The _Finalizer_ was still technically under his command, extra knights notwithstanding. Kylo Ren was off gallivanting around in search of his lost scavenger, and Hux had fulfilled his previous orders.

His shoulders deflated before he gently slid the holodisk back into his pocket.

He typed a short reply to Pyre, approving the bounty funds and stiffly complementing the man on a well written report.

Then he left his office.

It was time for the First Order to pay a visit to Tah'Nuhna.


	6. Heavy Artillery

Brixie's hands clamped shut around her face, leaving her to see nothing but darkness. She stalled for a moment, waiting for the perfect time to move once again.

Seconds of absolute silence ticked by before she threw her hands to the side with a gentle shout, "peek-a-boo!"

Ardis giggled, the high pitched noise giving way to a surprised shriek as Brixie covered her face once again.

Lori sat at the edge of the bed, watching the two others play their game.

Brixie had come to her and Ardis' room to check up on the little girl. A short exam found everything to be fine with the infant, though she was slightly smaller than average. The medic's check had been a welcome change in Ardis' monotonous day, and the infant was thrilled when her check for object permanence had turned into playtime.

The infant clung to the bar of her crib with one chubby hand, managing to mostly keep herself in a sitting position. She still teetered back and forth, and was quick to roll to the side out of excitement. Lori had lost track of how long the game of peek-a-boo had been going on for, but she was surprised that the infant had stayed active for so long.

 _She's growing up fast_ , Lori tried not to let the clichéd thought sour her mood. When it did, she tried not to let it show in her features.

While Lori intently watched the medic and the infant, a small voice in the back of her head kept reminding her that Armitage should be the one playing with their daughter.

Brixie noticed an odd look on Lori's face. Winding down Ardis' game, the medic took a step away from the crib. The infant wasn't done playing and let out a confused whimper as her entertainment stepped away. Lori recognized the sound as the preamble to an earsplitting shriek, and stepped in to scoop up the infant before she had the chance.

Brixie was left to talk to Lori's back as the new mother was carefully rubbing a hand over a squirming Ardis.

"Is something the matter?" the medic asked with a soft tone.

Lori kept her thoughts to herself as she considered her options. She had mentioned Ardis' supposedly dead father in the past. While the main cause of her troubles did come from missing Armitage, Lori didn't want to begin the delicate dance that would come from mentioning him, even in hypothetical terms. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep telling herself that everything would be okay.

Instead, Lori pushed for a conversation that might prove useful.

"I just…I just feel so useless." She patted her babies back and looked away from Brixie like she was searching for meaning, "We've been here for months, and I haven't done anything."

"You've done plenty," Brixie tried to encourage Lori, "you've taken great care of Ardis."

"You and I both know that's the bare minimum." Lori looked back up to keep the pressure on, "I should be out there doing something, even if it's just manning one of the terminals in the command tent."

Brixie looked away from Lori's intense gaze. While she hadn't seen Lori in action first hand, she had heard her and Dak reminiscing about old jobs. Most of them sounded just as, if not more, wild than the work the mercenaries had done. All of them told Brixie that Lori wasn't suited to standing by for months at a time, and that she would truly be useful in the command tent.

"I know," the medic agreed before looking up, "but the others have it under control. The safest thing we can do right now is make sure that the First Order doesn't find us."

Lori scoffed, "Because hiding worked so well the last time. We're a bunch of sitting ducks here. We should be on the move, or at least more split up so that one turbolaser blast can't get the job done."

The idea that the Resistance should be out there doing more was a popular idea in camp. Those that had left on the ships they had managed to cobble together were proof of as much. Lori was trying to keep the sentiment alive. If not to lessen the number of people she would have to sneak around to get to a communications terminal, then to give herself and Ardis chance to sneak it off planet.

Brixie had heard this from Lori before, and she couldn't help but be sympathetic. But she had already lost Hugo, Ivey, and Anderphan to the First Order, and Lex had demanded that he go on the scouting mission.

Hugo and Ivey never even made it to Crait, their transports being some of the first to be blasted out of the sky. Anderphan had died in the trenches. Rumor had it that Lex had been by his side, but the younger man refused to talk about it. Brixie had found that the blood on Lex's coat wasn't his –he was wounded in the leg, not the chest- but she hadn't pressed him for any details.

She couldn't bear losing Lori and Ardis again. Between them and Dak, that was all she had left.

The young medic was about to voice her thoughts when a sound grew in the distance.

"Do you hear that?" Lori stiffened, also taken off guard.

The sound grew louder.

"…emergency meeting!" A voice distorted by the hum of generators echoed through the hut.

For a second they stood in shock, straining to hear the voice again.

It came through loud and clear the second time, "Emergency meeting in the command tent!"

Brixie looked at Lori, who looked back before rushing for the breathing rigs that hung by the door.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux stood on the bridge, his hands gently clasped behind his back.

He had been getting updated reports during their journey to Tah'Nuhna. Not only had the _Falcon_ been sighted in the planet's orbit, but it turned out that General Organa herself had visited its surface.

A sour grin twisted at Hux's features.

Kylo Ren was set to arrive later that day. Rumor had it that he was upset that the general had moved the _Finalizer_ without notifying him first, but Hux couldn't find it within himself to care. Two of the knights on board had left several hours ago, taking their first opportunity to leave the ship after it had slipped out of hyperspace.

They had some trouble navigating the rapidly filling space around Tah'Nuhna.

The general glanced at the data readouts on the bridge. The rest of the ships he had requested had arrived. Whether anyone liked it or not, he did still command a sizable portion of the First Order's fleet.

The Tah'Nuhnans had apparently taken it upon themselves to aid the fleeing rebels. General Hux certainly wasn't going to suffer rogue systems giving free support to the criminals. In fact, he decided that Tah'Nuhna would make a prime example of what happened to systems that tried.

"Sir, we've received a transmission from the Tah'Nuhnan capital," a communications officer spoke from her terminal.

"Put them through," Hux was in the mood to toy with his victims.

Tah'Nuhna was a peaceful planet. Cold, with cities housed in intricate spires made of glass. The Tah'Nuhnans were a species renowned for their long contributions to art and science across the galaxy. Their doctors had cured the Iridian plague. Their astronomers had made some of the first and finest maps of the galaxy.

And now their leaders had made a terrible mistake.

A hologram screen appeared before the general. The premier Tah'Nuhnan stood tall, her several rows of insectoid arms folded neatly across her long torso. The high collar of a crimson cape framed her yellow frilled head, which trembled slightly as she spoke.

"Please do not do this, General Hux. The Tah'Nuhna are neutral!" she apparently knew better than to waste time on pleasantries.

Hux smirked, glad that the galaxy at large still feared him.

"Not even the Empire ordered an invasion of our planet." The premier continued trying to make a case for her people.

"A Resistance transmission was traced here." Hux watched and cherished the Tah'Nuhnan's falling expression, "That does not seem very neutral as far as the First Order is concerned."

The alien in the hologram fidgeted, "We… we welcome all travelers in need. It… it has always been our way."

"That always was your way," The general spared a glance at the gunner's station. Part of him expected to see Mitaka looking back at him, but he was instead greeted by a captain signaling an all clear, "and who said anything about an invasion?"

The Tah'Nuhnan's eyes went wide, but before she fully processed the general's meaning, a madly shouted order cracked out of the hologram.

"Open fire!"

The snowy and serine glass surface of Tah'Nuhna errupted in green and scarlet flames. Crystal shattered and rained as glistening shards over the people on the streets below the spires.

A sudden screaming tore through the sky, TIEs shaking centuries old buildings as they rushed past, dropping thermal charges in their wake. From nowhere and everywhere at once, transports blocked the suns from the sky, and white clad troopers began blasting away at the terrified survivors that crowded the streets.

The premier frantically turned away from the destruction to find that the feed to General Hux had been cut. Cursing the blood hungry beast, her several hands keyed the comm to every emergency channel he could think of.

Her home planet had fallen, and her people ruined. Screaming into the comm she hoped that someone would hear her, that someone might avenge her people's doom.

"To all those that can hear my voice, Tah'Nuhna has fallen under attack by the First Order!"

The building shook, and the premier's assistant shouted, "Missiles incoming!"

There was nowhere to flee.

"We are in desperate need of-"

The tower fell.

Glass and cinders and thousands of dead Tah'Nuhna crashed to the melted snow below.

General Hux stood on the bridge, his hands gently clasped behind his back.

The _Finalizer_ had moved to the edge of the atmosphere, her powerful turbolasers cutting broad swaths of destruction into the planet below.

Hux had a clear view of the doom he had brought. Brilliant reds and sparkling greens danced over the Tah'Nuhnan ruins, a sight to behold and one that Hux would have liked to savor. But the conquest felt hollow; the destruction little more than a temper tantrum fueled by heavy artillery.

.***.***.***.***.

The main room of the command tent was filled with frantic voices and startled rebels.

Lori had hurried in, holding her breath from the toxic outdoor air while she kept the mask of the breathing rig firmly against Ardis' face. Brixie followed closely behind, ready to tend to Lori if she had breathed in the toxic air.

They lingered along the side of the room, with Lori intently listening in on the conversation that unfolded.

Kaydel Ko Connix had been stationed at the communications array. A single, terrible message cut short by an explosion had sent her running into the main tent.

"The transmission was from Tah'Nuhna. It was the First Order, they just wiped out the entire planet!" Ko Connix spoke to Leia, who wore a grim look as she read through a data pad.

A gold plated protocol droid lingered behind the princess turned tired general, "That must be a mistake. The species is known across the sector for their neutrality. Why, when they welcomed us-"

Leia held a hand up at the droid.

"They've paid the ultimate price for that kindness." The old woman wore a far off look, and spoke so quietly her voice was nearly lost beneath the hum of generators, "As I watched the destruction of Alderaan, I swore that it wouldn't happen again, but how many worlds have been destroyed by would-be conquerors since?"

A ripple went through the group. Lori played along, as if the destruction of Tah'Nuhna weighed on her. As if she were cursing the Hosnian Cataclysm. As if she were mourning the invasion of Batuu, or the subjugation or Bastion.

The act was an easy one. The grief and fear and loathing that twisted along her features were hauntingly real. Not to be spent on mourning the nameless people of dozens of planets, her sorrow was for a single man.

Destroying an entire planet for a small slight had Armitage's name all over it. There were dozens of others within the First Order that would have liked to turn a civilization into cinders, but he was the only one that made a habit of it.

Lori's hand tightened into a fist before she forced it open and gently patted Ardis on the back.

She had to tell him that they were okay, that they were alive even.

She looked around the room. The Resistance leaders had begun talking once again. Some life flitted through the crowed as people drifted to their stations, a grim determination sat on their worn features. The sounds of the room seemed muted, beyond what she would expect from the dull hum of the generators outside.

Lori suddenly felt as if she was standing behind a wall of glass.

Trapped, silenced. She knew how much pain Armitage was in, in many ways it was her pain too, but she could do nothing for it. No chances to reach a computer. No viable schemes to get off planet and back home. She tried and she tried, and she knew no matter how much she screamed, he would never even have the chance to hear her.

A hand came to rest against Lori's shoulder. She only noticed it after it had lingered for a moment.

"I-I think we should go sit down." The medic saw a far off look in her friend's eyes, and couldn't help but think that she was as wounded and afraid as she had been during the battle of Crait.

Lori felt herself root in place, "No. I have to do something."

Lori wasn't sure if she was thinking clearly.

Neither was Brixie.

Their moment indecision was interrupted by a shout from the center of the room, "The pollution here on Anoat has masked the First Order's long-range sensors, but it may not hide us much longer!"

Leia was quick to respond to the short and worn down man "The Resistance was founded to bring back an old hope of peace and freedom to a new age, General Janto."

"But hope must give way to prudence!" the old man urged, "If the First Order tracked us to Tah'Nuhna, then they will soon turn their attention this way."

Lori was suddenly captured by the new development. She still felt her hair rising on edge, and her adrenaline spiked, but she stood hauntingly still to listen to the final two rebel generals debating their fate in the command room.

Leia's head dipped before she cast a tired eye over those gathered around her. With her home world, her husband, brother, and son gone, the dozen people in the room were all she had left. She had sworn that she wouldn't stand by and watch the galaxy burn, yet that was all that seemed to happen.

"Instead of just waiting around, I think it's time for me to do something I should have done a while ago." Leia spoke with a renewed fire, "Rose!"

The mechanic jumped at her name, and quickly hurried over.

"You're coming with me. The _Falcon_ is going to need you."

Janto startled at this new development, "With all respect general, you can't just leave the outpost."

Leia stood tall and began mentally planning her mission, "You're going to have to pick one, Janto. Either it's too dangerous to stay, or it's suicide to leave."

Janto bit back a harsh comment. Every plan seemed to lead to a dead end. He had watched the remaining resistance dwindle, and as much as he believed that the galaxy needed them, he feared the very possibility of losing the few people that surrounded him.

Leia shared those fears, but she had never let them control her and she wasn't about to start now.

Lori watched Rose jostle her way to Leia's side. She barely heard Leia over the crowed as the older woman laid out her plan. All Lori caught was that they were going to Mon Cala, to ask the mon calamari king for his support.

Besides Leia and Rose, Chewbacca and the golden droid would be going, as well as Rey.

Lori did a quick tally of the remaining resistance. Even if she counted Mitaka and herself among them, there would be less than a dozen people remaining on the planet. She felt some tension drop from her strained muscles.

Whether Brixie liked it or not, they would need extra help manning the control room.

They might even need her to sit in at one of the communications terminals.

Lori pressed Ardis tighter against herself, planting a kiss on the baby's head to hide a dangerous grin. General Organa's plan might very well be Lori's escape.


	7. Wall of Glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello & happy Monday. Glad y'all have stuck around this long, I feel like it's been a while since I just dropped a general Thanks for Reading.  
> That said, Thanks for reading!

Less than a dozen people were left on Anoat, and Lori still hadn't worked her way into any position that mattered. Brixie hadn't been a help. In fact, the medic's over concern had been Lori's biggest detriment.

When Lori volunteered to be the overnight monitor on the communications array, Brixie insisted that she should get some sleep. When Lori saw an excuse to travel to the command tent, Brixie volunteered to go in her place. When the remaining rebels had scrapped together enough components to make a second transmitter, Brixie recommended that they build a backup air purifier instead.

Despite the medics unintentional but consistent thwarting of her plans, Lori did see an opportunity. Half of the remaining Resistance was busy repairing a small freighter they had pulled out of a nearby scrap heap.

The ship was slowly coming together.

Mitaka was among the workers. Though mostly healed from his ordeal, he still hadn't found an eyepatch. The ragged cloth he used was messily tied in place, occasionally catching on something or otherwise sliding out of place.

He hadn't blown their cover yet, but Lori was still weary of the possibility.

Being suspicious and paranoid was an easy thing to focus her worries on, but it did her no good. Knowing as much only made her fidget impatiently.

Lori watched them working from her place in one of the makeshift huts. The thin plastic walls snapped and shivered with the occasional breeze, a constant reminder that their existence was parlous and at the whim of forces beyond their control. Even the window that Lori looked out of was only there through sheer dumb luck. Watching the workers, she tried to focus her thoughts.

With any luck, someone might hurt themselves badly enough to take up Brixie's time.

 _Does Mitaka have the chance to booby-trap the ship?_ She watched as the young man ducked beneath an engine, _he could twist up some metal, or hide some jagged scrap around a blind corner._

The lieutenant disappeared completely. The distant pinging of metal echoed through the hut walls.

_That freighter couldn't take more than a pilot and co-pilot. The Resistance hasn't found any heavy weapons. We could be gone before they even-_

A small grumble came from the other side of the room.

Thoughts interrupted, Lori took a few quick steps to Ardis' crib. The infant had taken to chewing anything she could get her hands on, including her actual hands.

Scooping the baby up, Lori held Ardis firmly against her shoulder.

"We've been over this. You can't try and eat the crib."

Ardis squirmed in defiance, but eventually settled into her mother's arms. Lori became overly conscious of how tightly she held onto the little girl.

Lori's hands had been shaking, and she had noticed herself getting tired after doing nothing at all. Some days, just picking Ardis up felt like an impossible weight to lift.

She was slipping. Even worse than before. It seemed like everyone in camp noticed. Lori huffed, it wasn't just Brixie's recommendations that had kept her away from any important tasks. Everyone else was quick to take the medic at her word. They saw Lori coming apart at the seams. She'd found herself unable to talk or form bonds –however fake they might be- like she used to. Suddenly quick to shut down and back away from the group, she hadn't won any 0f their hearts or minds.

Knowing that she was slowly fading into a shadow of her former self only served to enrage Lori, but try as she might she couldn't find a way to bring herself back.

When she had the chance, she would chat and sometimes even joke along with the rebels, but it all came out hallow. She'd been faking for years, but now it seemed like she was removed from the act.

Lori tried to tell herself that she was just tired.

She was exhausted. Pushed beyond the limit. And she had every right to be afraid at all times.

But it all felt so distant, the people around her and even her most closely held fears. The imagined wall of glass that she felt between her and Armitage had grown to surround her on all sides.

Surrounded and alone.

 _I've always lived like this_ , she tried to tell herself, _I've been alone before. I can do it again._

That promise to herself felt just as empty as the thousands of other lies she had told.

A wayward shout and a small rumble from outside barely managed to remind Lori that there was a world around her.

Fighting her way out from under her suffocating state of mind, Lori stepped back towards the makeshift window.

Beyond it was a quick commotion of hiding workers and two unfamiliar ships. A light cruiser and a fighter kicked up dust and debris as they came down in the barely cleared camp.

A pang of panic washed over Lori, and she suddenly found herself backing away from the clear stretch of plastic.

These people weren't First Order. Bounty Hunters? Pirates? Some local thugs?

Her pulse raced and just as her thoughts began to run away from her, the loading ramp lowered from the cargo ship.

Out stepped a man wearing a breathing rig. A terrible second went by before Lori recognized the young man. Another long minute stretched on before she was able to let herself relax at the realization that the man was Finn.

A squeak came from Ardis. Lori immediately realized how tightly she was clinging to the infant.

A completely different wave of terrible emotions washed over Lori, this one filled with guilt and shame rather than fear.

Loosening her hold, Lori shifted Ardis around so that she looked the infant in the eyes, "Sorry about that."

Ardis blinked and then cooed at the sound of her mother's voice.

Hoping that meant that she was forgiven, Lori tried to breathe and keep herself from shaking.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux agitatedly tapped his finger against his desk. The rhythmic drumming only served to agitate him even more.

He tried to take solace in the fact that Kylo Ren was away from his ship, gone off to the shipyards of Fondor in search of the Resistance. Hux had paid upon the younger man's short return to the _Finalizer_. Luckily, Ren had been so focused on throwing the general around like a piece of common trash, that he hadn't remembered to actually take away any of Hux's authority.

Though bruised and battered, Hux still commanded the _Finalizer_ and her fleet.

Finished as he was with the day, he didn't even think about returning to his suite for the night. Instead, Hux haphazardly typed away at the computer, pulling up Pyre's most recent report in the process. Commander Pyre hadn't found anything else of value, and his most recent report talked of nothing besides dead ends.

The general reached for a half emptied glass of gin. The stinging liquor wasn't enough to distract him from his persistent troubles, so he took a second deeper sip before setting the glass down.

Running a hand over his haggard features did nothing to wipe away the fatigue that ate at him.

Turning his head to the side did, however, cause him to catch sight of a dimly blinking light on his desk.

His brow furrowed in equal parts annoyance and curiosity. No one had called his secure communications line in ages.

Flicking a dismissive hand over the control panel, Hux answered the call.

A red skinned quarren appeared in hologram, a resolute look coating his squid-like features. The quarren was in a uniform of some sort, so he probably wasn't some bounty hunter that overestimated his importance.

Still, Hux was in no mood to entertain a holocall. He spoke with a harsh clip to his words, "There had better be an important reason to reach out to me directly. I do not forgive wastes of my time easily."

"Oh, I believe you will want to hear this, General Hux."

From his voice, it was clear that the quarren was much older than Hux had first assumed. His presumptive words irritated Hux nonetheless.

"I believe this could be of great importance to the First Order," the quarren continued.

Hux didn't even try to hide his distain, "I'll be the judge of that."

A tentacle that hung to the side of the quarren's mouth ticked in annoyance, but his words remained respectful, "General Organa, and the scavenger Rey, are on Mon Cala."

Hux didn't care so much for Ren's personal obsession, but Leia Organa was a target he couldn't possibly ignore, "Are they? The mon calamari king has said nothing about them."

The hologram flickered as the quarren gave a grave nod, "So he has not. I am not responsible for the mon calamari's actions, but I trust that my volunteering this information will be taken into consideration when it comes to the treatment of my people."

 _Wishful thinking._ _It won't get you very far._ The words came as a sharp thought, the latter half of which was meant more for him than for the alien in the hologram,

"Your cooperation is noted. Keep Organa on the planet until we arrive."

The quarren gave a slight bow at the waist just before his image blinked away. The general huffed before taking another long drink from his glass of gin.

He distantly wondered if the hunt for the Resistance would ever draw to a close. He almost wished that it wouldn't. There was nothing left for him beyond work. Five months had slid past since the attack on the _Supremacy_ , and he'd seen no proof nor even any hints as to Lori and Ardis still being alive.

Another mouthful of gin failed to push down the lump that sat at the back of Hux's throat. Pouring himself into work, he pinged the bridge. They would be gathering the fleet and setting course for Mon Cala.

Maybe this conquest would feel less empty than the last.

Hux doubted it.

.***.***.***.***.

Finn flinched against the slight sting of a disinfectant hitting a gash in his arm.

"Did that hurt?" Brixie looked up from the freshly sutured wound.

"It was cold, it surprised me." Finn tried to salvage some of his bruised pride.

The medic gave an accepting nod before wrapping as many bandages around Finns arm as she could spare.

Lori stood next to the barely stocked shelf of medical supplies. As far as she could tell, they only had one package of gauze and three bacta patches left.

Brixie went on asking a few routine questions, Lori toned her out.

Finn and Poe had returned from their mission. The cruiser looked like they had robbed an armory blind, and the fighter had come back fully loaded. Though Finn had picked up a few scrapes and bruises along the way, the successful mission had lifted the spirits of everyone else in camp.

Everyone other than Lori.

She wasn't about to give anyone a reason to raise a blaster to her, but just having the weapons around set her on edge. As a nervous tick, she absentmindedly picked at the skin around her fingernails. Upon realizing what she was doing, Lori crossed her arms as nonchalantly as she could manage. She wished that she had brought Ardis with her, but the infant was in the other room, soundly asleep in her crib.

"There you go, good as new." Brixie took a step back from her task. "Well, good as new in a week or so. No heavy lifting until then, you'll rip your stitches."

Finn gave an experimental roll of his shoulder, only to stop half way through at a tinge of pain and a sharp look from Brixie. Not quite sure that Finn would follow her advice and take it slow, Brixie turned to her other patient in the room.

Mitaka sat in a rickety chair and held an icepack to his head. He had startled at the sound of the landing ships, and had subsequently hit his head on the underside of the freighter.

Lori only listened to Brixie and the lieutenant so much as to know if either of them called for her. She had come into the infirmary in an attempt to gather information about the state of the galaxy, not about the bump on Mitaka's head.

She would have preferred to go to the command tent and listen to Poe debrief the rest of the Resistance, but Brixie had once again thwarted that plan by asking that Lori help her with the wounded.

Working with what little she had, Lori skirted around Mitaka and Brixie to come closer to Finn.

"So, how bad is it out there?" She nodded towards Finn's flesh wound as she spoke.

Finn saw a heavy shroud of hopelessness when he looked at Lori, and he had no reason to think that it wasn't genuine, "It could be worse."

Lori gave him a look of disbelief.

"Ok, yeah. It's pretty bad. We stayed off the First Order's radar, but they're hiring bounty hunters now. I don't know how much they're offering, but telling by how determined those bounty hunters were, it must be a bunch."

That sounded familiar. It wasn't hard for Lori to react with the appropriate amount of worry. Worry that she and Ardis might get caught in the crossfires of some untrained and greedy bounty hunter, and a worry for whatever dread and paranoia must be plaguing Armitage. She knew very well that he hired outside of the Order when he didn't trust his own people to get the job done. But, for all of his ill-will, he had always trusted his stormtroopers. Had there been some mutiny through the ranks? Had the other members of high command finally turned on him?

Finn watched Lori's expression turn clouded. Unsure of what to say or do, he tried changing the subject. Distracted by his sense of concern, Finn spoke slightly more loudly than he intended, "How long until that freighter we pulled out of the trash is up and running?"

Not entirely sure whether or not he had been invited into the conversation, Mitaka offered an answer, "Three weeks. Possibly a month if we fall behind again."

Lori saw Finn suppress a harsh comment. He didn't have time to come up with an alternative before a hiss and snap of the opening and then shutting main door cut through the thin hut walls. No one had time to wonder what it might be before Poe stepped into the crowded back room.

Kaydel Ko Connix came rushing in behind him, "Poe! It's too late. Hey!"

He markedly ignored her, "Finn, I need a wingman."

The ex-trooper didn't ask for any explanation before shrugging his jacket into place. Before it was on completely, Brixie put a hand on Finn's uninjured shoulder.

"Finn, don't move. You'll rip your stitches."

Kept down by the medic's surprisingly firm grip, Finn looked to Poe, "what's going on?"

Lori listened intently for the answer.

"There's trouble on Mon Cala. Leia took off with Rey, Rose, and Chewie to get some help, but it looks like the First Order tracked them there." Poe spoke with a hurried tone that said he was more than ready to race the First Order's fleet to the watery planet.

Lori caught Mitaka stiffen at the edge of her vision. She moved slightly to put herself between the lieutenant and the rebels.

Kaydel jumped in as soon as Poe stopped speaking, "The First Order is already on their way. We tried signaling the _Falcon_ , but the channel is being jammed. It's only a matter of time before the First Order traces that signal. The best thing for us to do is get off this planet. How many people fit on that cruiser you found?"

Finn thought about it for a second too long, and was cut off by Mitaka, "Eighteen, if everyone stands shoulder to shoulder."

The focus of the room shifted to the lieutenant, who was still holding the ice pack to his head.

"I-it's an Imperial Dropship… I re-recognized the design." He added in way of an explanation.

Poe didn't wait for any kind of silence to settle, "How many will the dropship fit for a long distance flight?"

"Four or five. Possibly six if someone sleeps in the gunner's seat."

"There was just the one room and the cockpit," Finn added, in an attempt to take back control of the conversation.

An impatient and barely controlled sigh escaped Poe.

Kaydel tried to be reassuring, "The mon calamari won't let us down, everyone will be fine. In the meantime, we have to get the other ship up and running."

It was obvious to everyone in the room that Poe hated the feel of the words that came out of his mouth, "Fine. But we need to work around the clock, there's no telling how long we have before the First Order starts closing in."

A dreadful and resolved silence settled in the wake of Poe's comment. Lori was careful to look just as forlorn at the others

What was a threat for the Resistance, was a beacon of hope for her.


	8. Evacuation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving (if that's your thing, if not happy random thursday in November)

General Hux half-heartedly read through the reports that clogged his computer. Commander Pyre had no updates on his hunt for the Resistance. There hadn't been word from the _Supremacy_ in over a month, the ordeal seemed forgotten to everyone besides him.

He glanced to the chrono. Several hours had passed since he ordered the First Order armada to Mon Cala. True to form, a knight had departed shortly before the _Finalizer_ slipped into hyperspace, no doubt going off to report Hux's latest brash move to Kylo Ren.

With a huff and a deep disregard for whatever ire he might earn from the supreme leader, Hux left his office. Hux's walk to the bridge was uninterrupted, and his useless new aid was nowhere to be seen upon the general's arrival.

Beyond the viewport were the unmistakable blue-white streaks of hyperspace. The seemingly endless expanse of distorted stars and warped physics was mesmerizing in its repetitive yet chaotic display.

A bitter wish picked at the general; if only every chaotic or dangerous thing could be so easily understood, so thoroughly planned and calculable as to allow him to safely navigate it.

The bridge hummed with the buzzing of machines and the low chatter of officers, Hux hardly heard any of it as he drove himself deeper into his own head.

_Did Lori know what was happening? Did she ever have time to -_

"Estimated time of arrival, five minutes." A navigator called out on a routine update.

A comms officer added her own update, "The Mon Cala capital has not acknowledged our transmissions."

Hux felt the crew's eyes on his back.

He did what he could to hide the defeated look on his features and the fatigue on his words, "They had their chance. Ready the weapons systems."

No one on the bridge was surprised at their order, but the tension that came with preparing an invasion still cast an uneasy air over the crew.

As the others went about following orders, Hux looked back to the formless white blue light beyond the view port.

Lori used to tell him old smugglers stories, little more than frightening tales to tell on a long journey. Many of them featured hyperspace madness. A pilot would go mad from staring into hyperspace for too long. Some stories ended with the poor fool being a confused husk for the rest of his life. Others told of men being driven to bloodlust and attacking any sentient they came across, only made to stop by being killed themselves.

Hux thought that either case would be better than the life he found himself leading now.

Madness hadn't yet come for him when the _Finalizer_ slipped out of hyperspace, and the swirling lights compressed down into distant pin pricks.

The wide view from the bridge showed Hux a blue planet and a dozen capital ships awaiting his order to invade. A readied squadron of TIEs drifted between the ships, poised to descend upon any city that might prove defiant. The Mon Calmari king would answer for his silence, but Hux thought that he might spare some cities. For no other reason than to show the rest of the galaxy that their obedience would be rewarded.

The general turned away from the viewport, but before he had to ask for a status report, a targeting officer said, "General Hux, we are picking up a ship. It's coming towards us."

Irritated but not surprised at the news, the general glanced back through the view port just in time to see a small ship weaving in and out of the TIEs, its trail punctuated by sharp streaks of blaster fire.

"A single Mon Calamari fighter?" He said with a scoff, "that's a suicide mission… unless…"

The targeter watched a realization sour the general's features, "Sir?"

"Set the ventral cannons on that fighter." Hux's words were clipped and short.

His order was fulfilled in almost as little time as it took for him to utter it, the single fighter disappearing in a flash of plasma.

"That was obviously meant as a distraction." He said mostly for himself before adding for the crew, "Do a sensor sweep."

The same targeting officer as before quickly typed away at her terminal. Her stomach sank at the news she found, and then it sank further when she realized she would have to tell it to the general.

"Now!" Hux took her apprehension as an intentional slight.

"We're picking up ships on the far side of the planet." She quickly sputtered out before immediately worrying that she hadn't been detailed enough.

The general looked past the fidgeting officer and looked at the data readouts himself.

No less than a dozen capital ships had gathered on the other side of Mon Cala. None of them had primed weapons systems, but their energy readings proved that they were all prepping a jump to lightspeed.

"Send all ships to cut off their escape!"

The entire bridge jumped into action at the general's shouting. The message was relayed to the fleet around the _Finalizer_ , and the millions of tons of durasteel around Mon Cala shifted and groaned at the command.

Crawling around the planet, the First Order fleet was just in time to see a dozen of lumbering Mon Cala cruisers drifting away from their home world. Just as they were scarce seconds away from escaping the planet's gravity well and fleeing into hyperspace, a star destroyer let loose a scorching green beam of laser fire.

The crackling plasma cut through an escort frigate, igniting its oxygen stores and tuning the machine into a short lived ball of heat and light. The fleeing mon cala ships didn't even try to return fire before rushing to lightspeed, their quickly distorting hulls racing beyond the reach of the First Order's hungry cannons.

A final wayward shot of plasma slipped beyond the abandoned batlefield.

As it disappeared, the crew aboard the _Finalizer_ braced in their stations. General Hux's shoulders tensed, and then rigidly shifted back to where they had just been.

"It seems that Mon Cala has chosen not to remain neutral after all," he spoke to himself before raising in volume to address the cowering crew, "Let's show the rest of the galaxy what happens to those who betray us."

.***.***.***.***.

Mon Cala had fallen nearly a month ago, and the resistance that stayed on Anoat had heard nothing. With heavy hearts and dozens of doubts, the remaining Resistance had fled the trash planet.

The huts had been left in place, though every hard earned bit of supplies had been packed away on one of the three ships. The transponder in the command tent had been left running, on the off chance that the _Falcon_ might return. A short message was set to transmit from the machine: Fled planet voluntarily, destination unknown.

The exact wording of the message had been the subject of a raging debate, but it was eventually decided that Leia or Rey would be able to find the Resistance through their own unique means.

Even as the ships broke through Anoat's atmosphere, a few lingering doubts twisted through the rebels.

Lori had taken one of the few spots on the dropship. Along with her were Finn, Mitaka, and two others. Brixie had tried to stay with Lori, with the explanation that she should stay near Ardis in case anything went awry.

While she appreciated the concern, Lori had her own plans and had insisted that everything would be fine even if they were apart. Brixie had been nothing but kind for as long as they had known each other, and Lori decided that she might feel bad if the young medic got caught in the crossfire of her escape plan.

There were only five people on the ship. They would have to trade turns in the pilot's seat, and as soon as either she or Mitaka were in place they could send out a message. If there was no long range comm, they could at least activate the distress beacon. Both of them knew which channels the First Order used, and neither doubted that a passing patrol would investigate the strange signal.

The ship rocked slightly as it left Anoat's gravity well.

Poe's fighter would go first, scouting the way. Then the freighter would follow in its wake. Bringing up the back of the group was the dropship.

The others might not even notice if the rearmost ship slipped away.

Lori held onto Ardis, who stirred at the sudden rocking of the ship. They had been away for far too long, and the infant had grown far too much. The first few strands of wispy red hair had grown atop the little girl's head. It was soft and barely there to the touch.

Ardis relaxed at the familiar sensation of Lori's hand against her face.

A small trickle of muddled emotions flowed through Lori. Loss and longing. Love and fear. Isolation and the barest hint of a familial bond. She would have liked to experience the feelings in full force. Even wallowing in persistence fears would be better than the dulled and muted world she found herself in.

But no matter how hard she tried, it all seemed just out of reach. Just beyond that impermeable wall of glass.

Lori let her sight linger on Ardis, searching the infant's soft features for some semblance of calm. What she found was a face that looked increasingly similar to Armitage's.

.***.***.***.***.

The above water streets of Dac City were coated with cinder and soot. After a month of being occupied by the First Order, the city had ground to a halt.

At the moment, General Hux was in an office suite in the only remaining tower of the city. He'd been unofficially reassigned away from the _Finalizer_ for some undefined amount of time for his perceived transgressions. Kylo Ren hadn't stripped him of his rank, but every officer down to the most clueless lieutenant knew that he had fallen out of favor. He only remained a member of high command because Kylo Ren didn't bother to keep track of who was and wasn't on the board.

At that very moment, Hux was watching as the flickering blue holograms of the other members of high command blinked into existence around him. They had a meeting scheduled, and Hux was acutely aware that the rest of them would be meeting in person while he was relegated to calling in as a hologram.

The pleasantries and introductions were short lived, Hux suspected that they had already discussed their most urgent topics without him. When he was finally addressed, it was by the current head of high command, General Pryde.

"It seems that you failed to notice a transmission to the Mon Cala system during your invasion, General Hux." Pryde spoke with a controlled dismissal that one would use when speaking to a particularly petulant teenager.

Hux kept his face blank, sure that the older man was expecting a rise out of him, "Have we located the source of the signal?"

A mutter came from Admiral Griss, he was silenced with a sharp look from Pryde.

"The outer rim," the older general gave an answer that was too vague to be of any use.

"You need not worry about it," General Domaric Quinn spitefully added, "the signal came from a sector under my control."

Hux had to bite his tongue to the point of almost bleeding to keep himself from talking back to General Quinn. Barely a decade older than Hux, Domaric had been old enough to experience the empire at its height, but he hadn't the chance to serve as an officer. As a result, he had all the arrogance of the old imperials but none of the credentials to back it up. The only redeeming quality of the nearly balding man, in Hux's eyes, was the fact that he was similarly dismissive of Kylo Ren's sorcerer.

Pryde held no such opinions, and was clearly irritated with General Quinn for sharing any details at all.

"Moving on, we must discuss the state of the Stormtrooper Program," General Amret Engell spoke in the tense silence, "General Hux, I understand that you are unable to venture to the _Absolution_ in the foreseeable future."

Hux saw exactly where this was going, and declined to answer.

"Right," General Engell didn't let his silence stop her. Adjusting her glasses, she peered down, probably reading off of a datapad just out of range of the hologram, "The _Absolution_ has been reassigned to the eight fleet. Because I now have ultimate authority over the ship, it follows that I should oversee all of its operations. Thusly, I move that I should now oversee the Stormtrooper Program and training."

A few of the holograms sifted to look at Hux. An obvious bead of irritation washed over his features. This was the first time he had heard of the _Absolution_ being reassigned. He wasn't sure if they had agreed to this before he had joined the meeting, or if one of the other members had gone straight to Kylo Ren.

Either way, it hardly mattered as Admiral Griss said, "I second General Engell's suggestion."

"What say you, General Hux?" Pryde asked from the head of the table.

_I say that you've all planned this and that if I refuse to relinquish a project that is and always has been mine, you all will undermine and seek to destroy it at every turn._

"I say we table this matter until all of the fleet reorganizations have been finalized." He went with a suggestion that was neither a confirmation nor a denial.

There was some slight shuffling in the holograms, with General Parnadee having an especially sour expression.

"Very well, then," Pryde replied, obviously annoyed that the younger general hadn't done anything that would warrant a harsh reprisal, "we will discuss this further during the next meeting. General Engell,"

The bespectacled general nodded before looking back down to the data pad, "the next meeting will be in three months time, my aid will send a one week reminder. We're set to convene aboard the _Finalizer_. I trust you'll be able to attend in person, General Hux?"

The suggestion that he wouldn't even be able to venture to his own flagship crashed over Hux like an icy wave.

"Certainly." A little bit of the venom on his thoughts seeped out around his words.

None of the other high command said anything for it. Satisfied that they had made their point, the holograms began to disappear.

The last of the holograms faded, leaving Hux alone in the dimly lit room. He let himself sink into his stiff chair for a second before admonishing himself for indulging in the little weakness.

Letting out a hissing breath, he pushed himself away from the chair and made for the hall. His own critical thoughts picked at him almost as much as General Pryde's dismissal. Hoping to silence them both, he went off in search of some drink that would drown his sorrows.


	9. Shining Armor

Alone at last, Lori sank into the pilot's seat. The three rebels on board had been very busy making sure that Mitaka never needed to take a turn in the cockpit, to the point that most of them didn't even bother to be wary of Lori.

Even now, Finn was awake in the other room, keeping a distrusting eye on the lieutenant.

Lori didn't let them worry her as she settled into place.

The ship was old, and telling by the dust and generally poor condition, Finn had probably pulled it out of some forgotten scrap heap. Still, Lori didn't let a thick layer of grime dissuade her from searching the cockpit for a long range comm.

She whipped the dust from more than just the surfaces she touched, more than aware that she needed to hide her tracks. The entire cockpit had been scrubbed clean, and she had only found a short range system. It made sense, this ship had been designed to travel only from a capital ship to a planet's surface.

Not completely surprised, she leaned back in the pilot's seat, eyes flickering to the swirling blue white lights of hyperspace. She didn't let her gaze linger for long as a few old tales of madness echoed at the edge of her mind.

More than a little paranoid, Lori cast a glance over her shoulder and to the cockpit door to listen for any movement in the single room beyond it. She was relieved when she heard nothing.

Trying to move as quietly as possible, she leaned down to pry open a panel beneath the dashboard. In the tangle of wires, she found the one worn line that went to the emergency beacon.

Doing her best to avoid being shocked, she pulled the wires away from their connection to the control board before twisting their exposed ends together. Pushing deeper into the decrepit machine, she was just able to make out a dim light from the emergency beacon.

Buried so deep in the innards of the ship, it would be nearly impossible to find unless someone pulled off the panel to search for it.

Shuffling back to an upright position, Lori cast a quick look back to the top of the dash. The light that signaled the emergency beacon was off, its power also meant to come from the wires Lori had pulled from their place.

Sure that it was only a matter of time now, Lori replaced the panel. The tension wouldn't drop from her shoulders, no matter how much she willed it too.

Minutes and then hours ticked by as Lori pointedly tried to ignore the glowing display beyond the viewport.

Just as she began to doubt her plan, the swirling lights of hyperspace blinked away with a sudden, horrible jolt. Even while sitting in the pilot's seat, Lori nearly flew forward with the abrupt stop. A clatter came from the room behind, quickly followed by a series of shrieks from Ardis and a string of harsh words from the rest of the passengers.

Repressing the urge to hurry to the other room to check on her daughter, Lori stayed in her seat a moment longer. Through the newly darkened viewport Lori found a mid-sized cargo ship. Built in sharp angles and coated in a dull dark gray, any fool in the galaxy would recognize that it belonged to the First Order. Quickly drifting towards the ominous vessel, the dropship had been caught in a tractor beam and yanked from hyperspace.

Having already decided what part she would play, Lori didn't waste any time before hurrying to the door.

"We've got company!" she shouted from the doorway.

The only other real room in the ship was in disarray. The one rebel that had been asleep was sprawled across the room, rudely awakened. Finn was stepping away from a wall, having knocked his head against it in the collision. Mitaka was sitting next to Ardis' makeshift bed, the infant no worse for wear but shrieking and sobbing because of the surprise. The other rebel that had been asleep in the gunner's cradle was nowhere to be seen.

Finn was the first to move, continuing his motion away from the wall and towards Lori and the cockpit. She watched his eyes go wide at the sight of the enemy ship.

A skilled pilot might be able to break free of the tractor beam, but Lori had already stalled past the point of no return. "I already tried breaking out of the field," she lied.

Apparently Finn wasn't keen on flying ships, because he didn't even insist that they try again. "We're going to have to fight," a dread and heavy realization dragged at his words.

"That would be suicide!" Mitaka, had to shout to be heard over the shrieking infant in his arms.

"You got a better idea?" Finn challenged the other man.

The third rebel had just managed to scoop himself off of the ground, "Guys! We don't have time for-"

Another smaller jolt rocked the ship as it was drawn into a landing bay.

Deeply aware of how much danger they were in, Finn felt a pit open under his stomach as he saw a trooper commander and two others approaching the ship.

A voice crackled over the comm, distorted by the old machine, "Unidentified ship, lower your ramp and submit for inspection."

Mitaka hurried his way towards cockpit door. Intending to hand Ardis over to Lori, he couldn't help but comment as well, "Surrender is always an option."

Finn gave the lieutenant a sharp look before turning to Lori, "Keep the cockpit door shut, it's going to get messy."

She nodded, more than happy to stand in the background.

Lori looked to the infant in her arms, muttering some comforts to the fidgeting little girl as she stepped back into the cockpit.

A heavy groan and sharp clicks came from the airlock.

Finn looked nervously at the door before looking back at Mitaka, "You too, into the cockpit. I don't trust you not to shoot me in the back."

Offended, and speaking in spite of the circumstance Mitaka began, "No hold on-"

He was interrupted by Lori sharply jerking at the collar of his coat. Stumbling back, Mitaka hadn't even gained his footing by the time the cockpit door was sliding shut between him and Finn.

The lieutenant turned to face her, talking as silently as he possibly could, "A firefight isn't part of the plan."

"You're going to have to learn how to improvise," Lori whispered, "That door should be able to take a hit. All we have to do is stay out of the way, and then surrender. If Finn want's to die in a shootout, that's his problem."

Mitaka uneasily shifted his weight back and forth, nervously looking between the door, the hangar bay beyond the viewport, and Lori.

"Just go with it," she urged him.

The stubborn concerns that still clung to the lieutenant didn't have time to be voiced before a creak came from the airlock.

The rush of sound was immediate and deafening. Boots trampled into the room and shouting soon followed. No one had the chance to fire in the scuffle that broke out. Mitaka jumped at each heavy thud that came from beyond the door.

While he was no friend of the Resistance, he didn't wish the men in the other room dead. Never mind that it would be such a waste if any of the troopers were killed on what should have been a quiet shift.

The scuffle eventually died down, and no reinforcements had rushed to the drop ship. Lori felt some stress drop from her shoulders for the first time in months. Though it was quick to return as she began deciding what she would say to the troopers.

Well trained or not, she didn't expect them to take her at her word.

Muffled voices came from the main room, one of them deadly calm and the others barely contained shouts.

They might have gone on for quite some while if Ardis hadn't slipped back into her temper tantrum. Lori quickly held the infant against her shoulder, muttering calming words and rubbing a hand against the baby's back.

Though Ardis' cries were quickly stifled, it was impossible not to feel a dangerous silence settle over the ship.

A second ticked by. Then boot steps grew closer to the door. Mitaka took a half step back, wide and worried eye fixed on the cockpit door. Lori shifted her position to stand directly behind the lieutenant, on the off chance that the trooper opening the door might shoot before looking.

When the door whipped to the side, it revealed a white clad trooper, his black shoulder piece marking him as a company commander.

Mitaka jolted at the moment, whereas the commander stood perfectly still. Beyond the commander, Finn and one of the other rebels were on their knees, their hands held behind their heads as two troopers had their blasters trained on them.

Looking beyond the stormtroopers, Lori's gaze drifted to the third rebel crawling his way out of the gunner's cradle. After hitting his head in the initial yank out of hyperspace, he had been stirred to action by the sounds of a struggle in the main room.

Time seemed to stretch into slow motion as Lori watched one of the troopers notice the man. With a robotic motion, the trooper fired at the potential threat.

The echo of the blaster bolt was deafening and deathly silent beneath the sound of a dead body slumping down into the gunners cradle.

The commander hardly flinched at the commotion, his expressionless helmet smoothly gliding from the cockpit to the main room.

"Crawling out from holes in the ground like vermin." He casually remarked, "They should be exterminated like vermin as well. Open Fire."

Almost before the commander said his last two words, Finn ducked to the side and then struck out from his place on the floor. A blaster bolt zipped through the air where his head had been only a split second ago.

Unharmed, Finn hooked a hand around the trooper's ankle, pulling the armored man to the ground. The trooper that had just shot the rebel in the gunner's cradle spun round at the sound and fired before he took in the scene.

A crackling green bolt flashed through the room before searing a hole into the felled trooper's pristine armor. Snarling at the sudden chaos of what should have been a simple order, the commander went for the blaster pistol at his side.

The other rebel rose and charged at the trooper that reeled from having shot his comrade. Finn began to push the lifeless soldier off of him, before seeing the commander preparing to fire and hiding back behind the body.

One plasma bolt after another cut into the dead trooper, his limp body giving a horrible jolt with each blow.

Realizing that his plan was faulty, the commander abandoned his grounded target, and instead turned into the cockpit.

The commander's blaster pistol came level to Mitaka, who had his hands raised in surrender. Lori tensed at the imminent threat. Ardis felt the fear rolling off her mother, and began crying with a fresh fervor.

The commotion in the room came to a stop. The other rebel had won his struggle with the trooper, and now held the soldier's own blaster against his side. Finn scampered to standing, eyes locked on the commander who stood perfectly still.

For a horrible second, the only sound in the ship was Ardis' echoing cries.

A dozen fervent thoughts cut through Lori, each of them twisted and brought to ruin with a storm of emotions. She could get out of this. She had to get out of this. Blaster leveled in her direction or no, she had to find whatever words this commander needed to hear.

"Stand down trooper," she began in an admonishing voice that she was sure would confuse the aggressive commander, "There's been a misunderstanding."

Mitaka nervously glanced over his shoulder, only to quickly look back down the barrel of the blaster that was scarcely a foot away from his face.

While Lori talked, Finn weighed his options. Reinforcements couldn't be more than a few seconds away. They had already lost one person in the scuffle, and he couldn't just stand by and watch that commander fire on another.

"Lower your blaster," Lori payed no mind to the rebels behind the commander as she spoke for them, "We're surrendering. You win."

A hint of static came from the commander's helmet. Before he got the chance to speak, a renewed struggle came from the far end of the main hold. The trooper being held by the rebel was twisted to the side as far as he could in effort to free himself.

In the second it took for the commander's head to snap to the side in response to the sound Finn crashed into his side, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. On his way down, the commander's hand squeezed in reflex, sending a wide and wild shot of burning plasma flying through the cockpit.

Lori and Mitaka had both jumped at the first sign of Finn's rush, leaving the shot to do nothing more than graze Lori's shoulder.

Yelping at the searing pain in her arm, Lori didn't even notice as the other rebel fell dead to the ground in the hold.

Reeling from his near brush with death, the previously apprehended trooper turned around just in time to see his commander fall to the ground.

Finn stumbled a few steps before rushing into the cockpit. Lori pressed herself against the wall, carefully clutching Ardis close to her. Mitaka didn't move so quickly, and toppled over as Finn clipped his shoulder. As the both of them tumbled over the pilot's seat, Finn slammed a hand down over the door controls.

The cockpit door hissed shut, cutting off the death and disarray of the main hold.

A quick rash of movement came from the hanger bay beyond the viewport as reinforcements poured forward.

Half fallen down, Finn threw the switch that would activate the engines. With the main airlock still open, the transport wobbled into the air.

"What are we doing!?" Mitaka shouted from his halfway upside-down position.

"We're still in the hangar!" Lori shouted over Ardis' cries as she saw Finn activating the hyperdrive.

Finn didn't slow, despite having to crawl over the downed lieutenant, "Don't worry, I've done this before."

"Done what!?" Mitaka asked just before wiggling to the ground and smacking against the floor with a thud.

Lori didn't have time to explain before a sliver of dark space flashed in front of the dropship. Seeing the tiniest window of escape, Finn made the jump to lightspeed.

The hangar bay distorted and warped out of view, a troopers blaster bolt seemingly stopping midair as the ship rocketed away. A heavy thud came from the cockpit door as the air was sucked out of the other room.

A sharp whistle of rapidly escaping air curled around the only thing separating them from the hungry void, and it seemed an eternity until Lori was able to find the lever that would shut the airlock. It seemed even longer until the thing shut and they weren't in danger of being pulled into the unknowable reaches of hyperspace.

Crammed into the one person room that was the cockpit, Mitaka struggled to get his footing. By the time he made it to his feet, the ships systems were fully online and the entire vessel was safe once again.

The lieutenant, however, was deeply disturbed by the events of the day, "Th-that… they… That was an unlawful order." He finally settled on what to say.

Finn had settled fully into the pilot's seat. He didn't need to say anything to show that he thought Mitaka was an idiot for only just noticing that the First Order was filled with war criminals, his body language showed it clear as day. Instead he settled on a skeptical, "Yeah."

"They opened fire without warning. I-I don't… We said we surrendered. And they attacked after that."

Lori saw this going in all the wrong directions. "We are with the Resistance," she tried to subtly nudge Mitaka away from his worries.

"They didn't know that," Finn scoffed.

"And there's protocol for boarding a ship," Mitaka added, mostly for his own sake, before addressing the other two, "Those troopers should have disobeyed their commander. That was an unlawful order, and-"

Finn cut him off, "and they would have gotten themselves thrown into a reconditioning program. Are you sure you were an officer? The First Order does war crimes all the time, and you're surprised now? Were you just looking the other way then they blew up Hosnian Prime?"

Mitaka's mouth gaped as he searched for something to say.

Lori didn't see this ending well, and stepped in, "Either way, we need to get back to the rest of the group. Mitaka, go see what supplies we still have. I think most of them got pulled out of the airlock, but we still need to check. Finn, I think it was your turn to pilot anyways."

"We didn't just lose supplies back there," Finn was quick to point out his murdered friends. Lori's attempt to seem like a calm collected leader after their brush with death felt especially galling. Finn didn't care for any of her plans or ideas as he angrily sat in the pilots seat, "It's also pretty cramped in here, so why don't you go back to the main hold? I'll keep the cockpit door open. That way we can all see danger the second it shows up."

Lori caught the accusation that she had stalled the first time, but she didn't let it show. She also saw exactly how irritated Finn was with the situation in general, and her in particular. Before turning to leave for the other room, she knew she had to at least try and smooth over the situation.

"One more thing, Finn. We were in a pretty tight spot back there, and you saved us."

She had told countless lies to countless people. She's promised men safety when she would only lead them to their doom, she's sworn her loyalty with hallow words, but these words were the most bitter to ever cross her lips.

"Thank you."


	10. Welcome to the Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning and welcome back. Monday was pretty action packed, so we're taking it a little slower with this chapter. And, I plan for next Monday to be... To be. See you then, and please enjoy!

A First Order patrol had happened across the drop ship three times in as many days. But their uncanny ability to hunt down the former imperial ship had suddenly stopped a day ago.

Finn had fallen asleep at the pilot's seat, only to wake up on the ground in the main hold half a day later. Lori explained away their sudden safety by guessing that they must have just been unlucky before, that they might have unknowingly flown through a newly conquered sector.

In reality, she had taken the opportunity given by Finn's falling asleep to disable the emergency beacon. Cursing the failed attempt at returning to the First Order, she held nothing but contempt for the former trooper. Even worse was the fact that Finn had made himself enough of a nuisance to the First Order had taken to opening fire on their ship upon sight. As much as she would have liked to fly straight into the nearest patrol and surrender, she didn't have the chance to do even that.

Finn wasn't sure that he bought Lori's explanation. In order to find out more, he and had taken to talking to her while casting the occasional nervous glance towards the cockpit where he could see Mitaka sitting in the pilot's seat.

Tired and nearly defeated as she was, Lori had found that the panic and fear of fleeing through hyperspace had become something to cling to. Some inescapable panic had at least created just enough pressure to hold her together. Now that the problem with the partols had been handled, she felt herself fading again. Talking to Finn seemed like the best way to hold onto that slight sense of danger.

The younger man was clearly searching for some kind of information. True to form, Lori made sure not to give him anything useful, occasionally avoiding especially difficult questions by shifting her attention to her daughter instead of giving an answer.

Now, for instance, Lori wore a lazy smile and turned her attention towards Ardis for a short moment. The infant had been trying to crawl when placed on the ground, constantly reaching for some dull piece of metal or tattered cloth.

"So," Finn went on in a searching tone, "you're sure we're out of First Order territory?"

Lori looked back up at the man, "Sure as I can be. Mitaka's information isn't up to date, but it's better than nothing."

Finn looked past Lori and at the back of the lieutenant's head, "I still don't trust him. Have you checked our route? How do we know he's not flying us right into a trap?"

"Because the First Order shoots first and asks questions later," she gave the actual explanation for what was stopping her plans, "Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure his plans don't involve jumping in front of a turbolaser."

She had a point, but Finn still didn't relax, "I guess. Any idea how long it is until we hit Ajan Kloss?"

Mitaka answered over his shoulder, "Our ETA is ten minutes."

Finn glared at the cockpit, unpleasantly surprised to find that Mitaka had been listening. Purposefully speaking more quietly, he looked back to Lori, "Speaking of jumping in front of a loaded blaster, what was your plan back on that First Order ship?"

Lori had been expecting some fall out from her failed plot. The almost accusation and clumsy searching for information that was Finn's question came as absolutely no surprise, and she and her answer at the ready, "You thought I had a plan? I was just saying whatever I thought would keep us alive."

"So surrendering seemed like a good idea?" he raised a disbelieving brow.

"It did while I had a blaster leveled at me." Lori let the comment settle, tuning her attention away from Finn for a moment so that she could move a piece of metal out of Ardis' reach, "besides, I was aiming for 'stay alive' not 'stay alive and be happy about it'."

Though he didn't like it, he couldn't find anything particularly wrong with what Lori was saying, "I guess, but that was a terrible idea and you got lucky."

While she knew that she was a suspicious character in Finn's eyes, Lori couldn't help but let out a humorless snort, "You think I was lucky? You're the one who decided to make a jump to lightspeed while we were still in the hangar. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? I didn't even think it was possible."

"Stick around with the Resistance long enough, and you'll see that nothing's impossible," Finn held a confidence that could be mistaken for a little bit of cockiness in the way he held his shoulders, it looked like a newly learned trait, "Han Solo showed me that move."

Lori wasn't as star struck as she was sure Finn expected her to be by that bit of news, but it did give her pause for thought.

So many of the Resistance personnel had just been names on a data feed to her. Distant, and made not quite real by the fact that they only seemed to exist in relation to others. Sure, she had met dozens of no name idealists who had turned traitor within the First Orders ranks. She had gotten close to many of them, only to betray them days or months later. But the big names, the leaders and legends that started this whole chain of events with the downfall of the Empire, the Leia Organas, the Han Solos, the Luke Skywalkers, all seemed like characters out of a holostory, like tall tales to be told to children as they fell asleep.

She had seen Leia in person, and even then the war hero senator seemed like an archetype of a person rather than a person herself.

Was that the reality of the Resistance? Of legends rather than people? Or had Lori just grown so severely detached from herself that she failed to connect with anyone at all?

"Huh," Lori eventually settled on mumbling, "I never really pictured him as the teaching type."

"He wasn't," Finn was quick to comment, "but I can learn a lot just by watching."

Before Lori had the chance to even decide what to reply, they ship shuddered as it dropped from hyperspace. Ardis toppled to the side, her weak attempt to crawl foiled by the sudden shaking.

The infant made a soft landing against Lori's leg. Not being slowed for a second by the setback, her attention shifted to the strings of Lori's boot. Conceding the fact that it would cause more trouble to move, Lori let the infant play to her heart's content as Finn rose from his place.

"You're going the wrong way, the camp is supposed to be in the southern hemisphere." He not so gently corrected Mitaka.

"I know that," the lieutenant replied curtly, "we're not orientated to the planet's magnetic field, so the south is to our left."

"Uh, no. That's east. Look at the system's star."

"Ajan Kloss rotates counterclockwise. We're upside-down, and you're pointing north."

Lori didn't bother to watch the two bickering men, knowing that they would reach their destination eventually. Instead, she kept her attention turned toward her daughter, who seemed more adventurous by the day.

.***.***.***.***.

A storm had settled over the remains of Dac City.

The single tower stood as a darkened monolith in the gray curtains of rain, an occasional claw of lightning twisting through the sky and illuminating the near abandoned building. General Hux sat in a darkened room with his back to a wide window, only paying a second's notice to the gale when a flash of light made the hologram screen of his computer impossible to see.

Between the uneven and irritating flashes of light, and the even more vexing news he read, General Hux fought the urge to throw his empty glass at the transparasteel window.

The _Finalizer_ wouldn't be traveling near Mon Cala for another month and a half, and all of the long range transports were conveniently preoccupied for the next two.

He didn't think for a second that this was unfortunate circumstance.

High Command had barely been pretending that they weren't openly hostile towards him. And Kylo Ren already had a long history of beating and undermining him at every turn.

This was an insult, a carefully orchestrated reminder that he had fallen from his place of power. He had always known that High Command only tolerated him because he held Snoke's favor, but he had never guessed that he would have had to obey a disorderly fool like Kylo Ren.

This was pathetic!

Hux slumped in his seat and cradled his head in a limp hand.

He was pathetic.

Here he was, wasting away on a defeated planet when he should be at the head of the First Order. He was alone, and trying desperately to deny that he had lost anyone at all when he should be coming home to his family.

A sterile and silent light cut through the room before flashing away.

It was late.

" _You should get some rest._ " He imagined Lori telling him to take care of himself, " _You're half asleep already, just lay down. Work will still be there when you wake up._ "

"I can't," he spoke to the empty room, "I can't."

 _I can't do anything that matters from here,_ he thought along with the words he had said out loud.

The _Finalizer_ was well out of his reach, and the only thing that he could do was read through one disappointing report after another.

Commander Pyre had continued sending updates on his activity. Hux clung to them as a sad sliver of proof that someone still listened to him. That some shred of the First Order still respected the chain of command.

Hux read through the documents, being entirely unsurprised by any of it. The Aeos system had been conquered; A fueling station sympathetic to the Resistance had been located there, and had been destroyed during the invasion.

There had been a series of encounters with the Resistance in the outer-rim. The defector FN-2187, now the noted rebel Finn, had been seen piloting an imperial dropship. Despite being contacted several times, and apprehended once, he had managed to escape the First Order.

A shadow crossed Hux's features. Finn. FN-2187. He had been on the _Supremacy_ during the attack. What twist of fate had let him live, while Lori and Ardis…

Hux stopped himself from one dark thought with another, _If that had happened in my fleet, that dropship wouldn't have escaped the first time_.

The wind beyond the window shifted to push the rain against the transparasteel. It came as a rash of white noise that barely managed to drown out the general's thoughts. Hux looked back to the computer as the increase in noise quickly shifted away.

Neither Pyre nor anyone else had found the rest of the resistance. Even the Mon Cala fleet had seemingly disappeared from the known galaxy.

In spite of everything, Hux could still find it within himself to be annoyed. Being unable to find even the barest hint of an entire fleet seemed unreasonable. He decided that either the others in the First Order besides him were all extraordinarily incompetent, or information was being kept from him.

Another flash of silent white light cut through the room, this time followed close behind by thunder heavy enough to shake the building.

Alone in a nearly empty tower, the general was left to stew over his paranoid thoughts.

They had been his only real company for the last six months.

.***.***.***.***.

Once Finn and Mitaka finally figured out which way was south, the camp had been very easy to find.

Set into one of the very few clearings, the camp was much smaller that it had been on Anoat. Consisting of little more than Poe's fighter and the cobbled together freighter, no one had built any huts yet, and the boxed supplies were set out into shakily organized piles.

Tightly curled around the tiny encampment was a dense treeline. Beyond that was a lush tropical forest, dotted only by the occasional large lake.

Ajan Kloss was a jungle planet. Very young, compared to most of the other life supporting planets, it hadn't built up enough carbon deposits to catch the attention of off world mineral miners. The plants themselves were young enough in their evolutionary stages that they hadn't developed any particularly useful chemical compounds either.

The fauna that called the planet home had only just moved beyond a vaguely insect like form, with a few fish and even fewer lizards roaming the planet. Oxygen rich as it was, the most dangerous thing about living on Ajan Kloss was the occasional oversized dragonfly.

Ajan Kloss was the opposite of Anoat in every way. The crisp clean air formed a bright blue sky over a pristine green planet. Thousands of shallow lakes dotted the planet, some connected by underwater tunnels, while others were left separate to create their own unique lifeforms.

If she were a naturalist of any sort, Lori would have marveled at the young jungle. Instead, she was speaking with Brixie.

At the same time, a tense conversation between Finn, Poe, and Mitaka was happening back in the dropship, away from the group at large. Lori would have preferred to be there. She doubted that Mitaka was going to come out of the conversation without a slew of inconvenient ideas. Never mind that she Finn would almost certainly hang back and talk to Poe afterwards. She could only imagine that she wouldn't come out looking good after they talked, and she would have liked to have made a very innocent impression to the rebel pilot.

"Hold still."

Lori was suddenly brought out of her own head by a comment from Brixie. They were still low on supplies, and the medic was trying to use as few bandages as possible to wrap the fresh wound on Lori's arm.

"Sorry," Lori gave a halfhearted apology as she looked over to Ardis.

They had moved a series of boxes into a ring. It wasn't a bed, but would work as a temporary play pen.

The infant was laser focused on a vine that dangled just out of reach. Thin and green, it had wide smooth leaves that shuddered on the slightest of breezes. Grunting with a fine mix of frustration and amusement, Ardis sat as straight as she was capable of while batting for the bright green toy that was just out of reach.

"Ah…Ammm…Eh!" she babbled with each swipe of the hand.

The almost words tore at Lori. She had hoped that they would be back home by now. That they would be back by Armitage's side, instead of wallowing in an underdeveloped jungle. Ardis was none the wiser, and each excited sound she made only reminded Lori how much time had passed since the infant had seen her father.

 _How many firsts are we going to spend apart?_ Lori hated her resignation that they wouldn't make it back to Armitage any time soon, _Will she even recognize him?_

Brixie saw Lori tense, "Don't worry. I've tested that one already."

"Hm?" Lori slowly pulled herself away from her disheartening thoughts.

The medic had assumed that the new mother was worried whether the vine was poisonous or not.

"That vine. I've tested as many of the plants around the clearing as I could," Brixie held up an arm, the sleeve rolled back to the elbow. Along it were several circles and messily written labels. "It's been a day since I started testing for an allergic reaction."

"Oh," Lori rolled her own shirt sleeve down over the fresh bandage, before looking back to Ardis at play, "Alright, so no rash. What about eating them?"

"I can only test for that one plant a day," Brixie leaned on the table where Lori sat before turning to watch the infant as well, "We don't have a kit, so I'm going old school with this one."

Ardis lunged for the nearest leaf, only to topple to the side.

"Which means?" Lori asked.

Brixie shrugged, "I just eat a little bit, and see what happens."

"You're going to make yourself sick."

"Probably."

Lori took a step away from the makeshift exam table and towards Ardis' play pen. The infant had just gotten back to sitting before she nearly fell over again from turning to face the sound of Lori's approach.

Upon seeing her mom again, Ardis gave a wide smile before looking back at the tempting sting of leaves, "Bah!"

"You're a mess," Lori stepped over the low wall of the pen.

The baby wobbled as she looked between her mother and her toy. Lori took a knee beside the child, and gently lifted Ardis so that she came to a standing position. Wobbling, and only able to lift a fraction of her own weight on her stubby legs, Ardis was delighted to find that the vine was at the edge of her reach.

Shrieking with joy and reaching upward with no regard for whether or not she might fall, Ardis curled her plump fingers around the thin plant. Lori kept the little girl stable, and almost found it within herself to laugh along with the child.

But even this felt too removed to be real.

Ardis yanked at the young vine, and laughed and shrieked as the commotion shook the low hanging leaves above. She hadn't a care in the world, and her bright giggling should have been able to make anyone feel the same.

Lori tried to be in the moment.

She even smiled.

But it wasn't real.


	11. The Once and Future Emperor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello & welcome back. I hinted at shenanigans last chapter, and you can probably tell what's up from the title of this one. At any rate, please enjoy.

The illegitimate supreme leader paced the officers' walk like a caged animal. Made helmetless by his own childish destruction, there was nothing to hide the wild look in his eyes. Especially as they snapped towards the door, waiting to glare at General Hux as he entered.

General Hux stepped onto the bridge of the _Finalizer_ for the first time in months. Much to his chagrin, he found Kylo Ren standing in what should have been his spot.

Driven through his days by desperation and spite, Hux didn't mind the predatory air that hung around Ren.

"You're supposed to be on Mon Cala," the dark lord flatly told the general.

Hux hadn't asked anyone's permission to leave the ocean planet. But he hadn't been given an official amount of time that he was supposed to be stationed there either.

Though he knew that he didn't have Snoke's favor to protect him anymore, Hux was just as catty as he had always been with his reply, "I decided otherwise."

"You don't have that authority, Hux." Ren calling him by name without rank rankled at the general, "You go where I tell you, and you do what I say."

A slight shuffle of unease rippled through the crew, both men noticed but neither bothered to comment. The bridge crew had seen the two come to blows before, but Snoke had always been there to settle their petty squabbles. Without the moderating old man, they weren't sure that Kylo Ren could be convinced to leave Hux alive.

The general was acutely aware that he was outmatched in every way. The knowledge didn't do a thing to make him more cautious, in actuality it gave him even more of a reason to act with reckless abandon. He had already lost everything else, the rank and power he had amassed over years meant nothing. Everything he was beyond that had been ripped away in a lightspeed attack.

What did staying alive even mean at this point?

Why shouldn't he finally give Kylo Ren a piece of his mind? No one else would tell the idiot in charge exactly how bad of a job he had done up to this point.

"On the contrary," he began. When he did, the crew visibly shirked away from the conversation. Ren stood a little taller at the challenge, already wildly insecure about his grasp on power, he wasn't about to let the insubordinate general talk back in front of the crew, "I'll be deciding where I go, and I'm clearly needed here."

Ren didn't spare any words as the air grew heavy on the bridge. Having seen Ren throw a fit before, Hux braced himself but didn't flinch as a phantom pressure traced across his neck.

Hux knew that his next words weren't wise, "Really? I thought you were our unflappable leader now?"

With that, Hux suddenly couldn't breathe. He'd been expecting the familiar sensation, but it still came as a terrifying shock. Made fragile by the loss of air, standing was a challenge that Hux was only just able to meet.

Ren stood on the other side of the bridge, unmoved from his position. Hand reaching forward, his fingers gripped at nothing before curling into a fist.

Under the deepened pressure, Hux felt his pulse thundering against the side of his neck, the blood no longer free to flow to his head. Whatever bravado he'd felt before quickly disappeared under the threat of death.

He hated Ren, more so than anything else in the galaxy. He despised every breath he'd taken since the attack on the _Supremacy_ , but his cowardice won out in the end. Shaking. On the verge of slipping out of consciousness, he desperately clawed at his neck. Knowing full well that this would do nothing, a few choked sounds managed to escape his crushed throat.

His vision swirled, and he thought that this might be the end. Life had become hell, a waking nightmare that didn't seem to end.

As much as he thought that he wanted it all to end, being faced with oblivion filled him with a primal fear.

Fear that didn't disappear as he hit the ground, the crushing weight disappearing from around his neck.

Confused and gasping for air but still failing to bring any in, some other force kept him from standing once again.

A terrible pressure, this one coming from somewhere in the back of his head, kept the general on the ground. He didn't try to croak out a word, too aware that Ren was seconds away from killing him. With the quickly eroding remains of his willpower, Hux lifted his head from the ground.

Ren stood frozen in place, expression unrestrained and somehow still unreadable, different from the fury he'd shown towards Hux just a second ago.

There wasn't time for Hux to wonder before the pressure in his head turned to a sudden and searing pain.

.***.***.***.***.

A jolt of excitement suddenly cut through the jungle clearing. As the _Millennium Falcon_ circled around and then smoothly descended onto a partially overgrown landing pad, the Resistance gathered to greet it's long absent members.

The loading ramp let out a familiar hiss as it began to lower. Pockets of excited chatter came from the clearing.

The sudden excitement had caught Ardis' attention as well. Putting to use a skill that she had just learned, she sat up and then pulled at the nearest and smallest boxes before stubbornly pushing herself into an unsteady standing position. Still unable to walk, or to support herself fully, the little girl rested most of her weight on the top of the nearest box.

Lori had made a half start towards the newly landed ship, only to stall as she noticed that the rest of the camp was completely distracted. Quickly weighing her options, Lori took a small step back towards Ardis and the main camp.

She wasn't sure how long their new arrivals would remain the perfect distraction.

Glancing at Ardis, Lori found the infant peeking above the ring of boxes. Hit again with the painful knowledge that the little girl was quickly growing into a curious toddler, Lori hoped that she wouldn't make a noise that might attract unwanted attention.

Hoping for the best, Lori quietly made for the jerry-rigged communications array.

"Mwa?" Ardis let out a confused babble as Lori rushed past the play pen without picking her up.

Wincing slightly, and turning as she walked, Lori pantomimed a gesture to stay quiet.

Ardis blinked, recognizing the motion but not quite grasping its meaning.

Hoping that the infant would be content to confusedly watch her, Lori continued on her way, taking care not to be noticed by the now silent crowd. A single voice addressed the group, though Lori couldn't quite make it out as she moved further away.

Ardis remained blissfully silent as Lori came to the edge of the command area. At the far end of it was the communications terminal. Suddenly rushing in spite of herself, Lori hurried forward.

Just as she made it a few steps in, there was a quickly growing ache at the back of her head.

Pushing through the strange sensation, Lori heard a fresh bout of chatter come from the distant crowd.

Each step became difficult, her limbs suddenly feeling heavy beyond all reason. The now throbbing pain in her head felt tangible, so sharp she could nearly hear it.

Knees buckling, Lori fought a losing battle not to drop to the ground. The pressure in her head grew more and more until it felt as if she were on the verge of being crushed and exploding at the same time.

The distant sound of the excited rebels had turned into a mass of groaning, punctuated by the occasional shout.

Lori reached a shaking hand to the side of her head, like that would do something to block the not-sound that had ground her thoughts to a halt. She found herself on the floor instead, thin blades of grass cutting through her view of the camp.

The shouting dwindled into silence, and not even the wind seemed to move.

So paralyzed by this invisible thing, Lori wasn't even sure if she was still breathing through the pain.

Then, from nowhere and everywhere, there came a voice.

.***.***.***.***.

_The laughter of a long gone but never forgotten evil echoed through the stars. Wrapping its terrible grasp around the mind of every sentient being in the galaxy, The Emperor spoke to his wayward subjects with a voice like that of the grave that plunged into the hearts of all that it reached._

_"It's been so long, my dear galaxy. Have you forgotten your emperor so soon? Only a single generation has passed, and you think that you have escaped me? Such a pitiful thing as death could not keep me from my destiny. It could not keep you from my revenge._

_"I've left you to your own devices for too long, and you have devolved into rabid squabbles. You have grown weak, and you must be sacrificed for my empire reborn._

_"Prepare for my arrival, my dear galaxy, and beg for my mercy."_

_The Emperor's final word of warning dissolved into his mirthless laughter; that joyless sound, so often birthed from misery._

_After a second that stretched into eternity, that hideous echo faded into oblivion as well._

.***.***.***.***.

The head splitting pain that bloomed across General Hux's mind washed away like a receding tidal wave, ruined ideas and carelessly strewn about thoughts left in its wake. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head, and he could only just raise his head.

The sudden paralyzing fear brought on by the ordeal gave way to a confusion that was only dispelled by painful experience.

After years of being subjected to Ren's abuses, he wasn't completely familiar with the feeling of some force sensitive crawling through his head, but that had been many leagues worse than anything Ren could manage.

The supreme leader himself had only barely remained standing, legs shakily unlocking themselves from being braced against the psychic assault.

Hux made it back to his feet just as the content of the message made an impact on the tiny section of his mind that wasn't reeling.

Emperor Palpatine.

Hux hadn't been old enough to remember hearing that voice first hand, but he had seen thousands of archived holograms from the empire. The emperor's words had been a mainstay of his education, and the old man's voice was more familiar than his own father's.

And it was just as terrifying.

Shaking away the lingering fear left the general with an overwhelming rage.

 _Beg for mercy?_ Hux focused on the dead man's demand, _be sacrificed to his empire reborn? Who even-? Palpatine has been dead for decades._

"Was this your doing?" Hux's question came out as an accusation aimed at Ren.

The supreme leader shook a haunted expression from his features, only to replace it with one of grim determination, "Contact my knights."

"You didn't answer my-!"

A sudden and completely unsurprising pressure coiled around Hux's neck. Along with that, he was lifted until only the tips of his toes brushed the ground as he was dragged forward.

"My knights, Hux."

The general was left to gasp as his skin turned red and the edges of his vision began to darken.

Too distracted by the occasion to finally kill the general, and expecting him to carry out an order besides, Ren let the man crumble into a gasping heap on the ground.

Hux didn't recover from that assault until after Kylo Ren had sulked away from the bridge. When he stood for the second time, he found that his crew had only just begun to recover.

He gave them a moment to collect themselves. Not out of pity or understanding, but so that he could have a time for himself to curse the circumstances.

Emperor Palpatine, returned from the dead.

_I shouldn't even be surprised. The very laws of the galaxy seemed to bend to the will of a petulant child, why wouldn't they warp themselves at the behest of a ghost as well._

_The Force. Not a good thing has ever come of it. Not of these fanatical cults, not of these foolishly powerful bloodlines, and not of the Empire. It was an idiotic endeavor that ended twenty years after it began, the only good thing the Empire ever spawned was the First Order._

Half of the crew had regained their footing and their senses, Hux was still fuming.

_The Empire was corrupt. Wasteful. And so fervently obsessed with their dear leader that they crumbled the second the old bastard died. Ren may be a curse, but the First Order is well managed enough that even having an idiot in charge isn't enough to ruin it._

All but a few of the officers had made it back to their stations.

_Or at least it was well managed. Ren has done his damnedest to dismantle everything that I've done for the Order, hasn't he? The rabid dog is probably going to run off in search of Palpatine, isn't he? Even the most defiant hound craves a master, and he does have such a penchant for aged sorcerers._

_Such an idiot. A fool. A shadow of the man he thinks he is, though he won't ever admit it. Especially not to himself._

The last of the stragglers had either recovered or had been hoisted into their seats by crew members that feared retribution from General Hux.

They had all seen him angry before, it was an occurrence as sure at the passage of time. They expected a shout, or a purposefully petty comment, or some wanton cruelty that only served to satisfy some desperate need for control.

None of them expected the reserved comment they got, "You've already heard your orders. Contact the knights."

None of them heard how tired he was.


	12. The Supreme Council

General Hux sat at a long table. Around it were the other members of high command, all of them having appeared in person at the behest of Kylo Ren.

In the middle of the table was a holoprojector that no one had bothered to turn on. Their meeting wasn't strategic, nor did anyone have the opportunity to speak. Instead, each member of high command sat in silence as Kylo Ren ranted and raved at the head of the table.

"First Order High Command will be reorganized into the Supreme Council," Too excited to sit in the tall backed chair, Kylo Ren instead loomed over the table, one gloved hand firmly planted on its surface, "It will answer directly to me. Nothing happens in the order without my permission."

Hux thought that there was a worrisome lack of concern from the others, though he was careful not to dwell on his potentially treasonous observation. Instead, he watched General Pyre sit slightly higher in his seat. Hux couldn't shake the idea that he was alone in having a sense of disenchantment with the changes Kylo Ren had made to the very core of the First Order

 _You've been awfully eager since hearing from Palpatine._ Hux found himself with a fresh resentment towards the older man before looking to the rest around the table. _All of the old imperials have been waiting for this, haven't they? They haven't got any real ambition. Always just waiting for the next sorcerous overlord to arrive and dethrone the last._

"Hux!"

Armitage looked up at his name, having missed whatever conversation must have been happening around him.

"Do you have something to say?" Kylo Ren spoke in a snarl.

"No, sir." Hux's answer was made sheepish by the still fresh memory of his throat being crushed. The reflexive submission only fed Hux's festering anger.

Kylo Ren sensed the deep resentment, but it was nothing new. And it was almost completely eclipsed by a primal fear. He would have preferred respect, but either would do.

The meeting continued on without him. Hux would have needed to by willfully blind not to see the self-righteous glances from the rest of high command.

 _Ah,_ Hux sarcastically corrected himself, _the rest of the supreme council. We're not actually fit to make decisions anymore. Just to advise a child that won't take our advice anyway._

"I want a task force," Ren's words barely attracted Hux's attention, "led by my knights. We're hunting the emperor."

Hux thought that there was a notable lack of comment from the others as Admiral Griss spoke, "I volunteer my fleet to house the task force. Our ships shouldn't grow soft in conquered ports."

Kylo Ren acknowledged Griss's words with a barely there nod. As a fresh silence settled, a creak came from General Domeric Quinn's chair. The focus of the room immediately went to the squirming man.

"Sir," he spoke before anyone demanded an answer from him, "What is our ultimate goal? In capturing the emperor, I mean."

At that, Hux was invested in the conversation once more.

"We kill him." Kylo Ren's answer came plainly, though his expression said that it should have been obvious.

Hux kept his thought to himself, but he did find himself pleasantly surprised, _So you're looking for a fight rather than a new master? Well, you had to be right about something eventually._

"This is my galaxy." Ren went on, "and I'll destroy anyone who tries to take it from me."

 _There's the unsubstantiated arrogance I've come to expect,_ though disappointed Hux wasn't at all surprised. A few more bitter thoughts came to him, _'My galaxy' please. You sat back and watched while I did all the work. Trouncing around, looking for a lost scavenger while I was managing fleets and crushing rebellions. And now, you're undoubtedly going to run off after a literal ghost. Except this time, we're supposed to just go along with whatever crazed strategy you come up with. And when we do see the obvious flaws in your plan, we're supposed to dawdle while we eagerly await your approval to do anything.._

"Thank you, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren." Pyre's worn voice interrupted Hux's thoughts, suddenly making him aware that the meeting was drawing to a close.

Hux didn't bother to listen to the closing comments from the rest of the supreme council, sure that they would only irritate him more. The council members remained seated as Ren left the room, apparently done with his troubling announcements. It was only after the door slid shut behind their petulant leader that a few whispered conversations began around the table.

General Quinn muttered to General Engell, "Surely, we're not meant to get approval for every little thing we do."

"You heard the supreme leader. If you feel that it's your place to go around him, you can explain that to him directly," The older woman adjusted her glasses as she answered.

"I wasn't suggesting-"

Admiral Griss interrupted as Quinn's voice rose, "Be calm, generals. Just do as the supreme leader says, and all will be well."

General Quinn gave Griss a poisonous look before speaking once again, "I wasn't suggesting that we disobey orders. It just seems inefficient to worry Supreme Leader Kylo Ren with every trivial matter."

"There is nothing trivial in running the order." Pryde interjected.

Hux sat back and watched the squabbling unfold. As the conversation grew more heated, the deep fractures that ran through the First Order became impossible to ignore; An incompetent leader; A looming threat; A high command -a council- that couldn't even begin to understand its official purpose.

This wasn't the deeply disciplined and well-focused war machine that he had built. It wasn't even a poor facsimile of that. It was a confused collection of shouting people, controlled by the loudest and most incompetent among them.

It was an insult.

.***.***.***.***.

The exuberance brought on by the return of the _Falcon_ and its crew had quickly given way to shock and terror as Palpatine's voice rang through the galaxy. The terror had faded over time into a tense unease. After weeks of not addressing the supernatural broadcast, the unease threatened to boil over into a small revolt. It had only just been addressed earlier that day, with a short, unsatisfying announcement from Leia and Poe.

The Resistance was going to continue on as it was. They needed to defeat the First Order, and any of their allies before focusing on new threats.

Though there had been some grumbling, the rebels had all gone back to their usual duties. Lori hadn't egged anyone on, per say, but she hadn't tried to be a calm voice of reason either.

Not to the rebels, at least. Mitaka had already been shaken by the First Order's actions towards them on the dropship, and Palpatine's message had hit him particularly hard.

"You…" Mitaka checked over his shoulder for what must have been the fifth time since their conversation started, "you don't think that Palpatine will just replace Snoke, do you?"

Lori held Ardis, who had been climbing on the box wall of her playpen just a moment ago. The little girl had grown bigger and heavier, being just over two and a half feet tall and nearly twenty pounds. She was more than capable of getting herself into trouble, but still not able to find her way out of it.

"No, of course not." Lori spoke confidently on a wild guess, "we don't even know if that was the emperor. He's been dead for thirty years."

Mitaka waivered, "well, yes. But…"

The lieutenant almost didn't want to voice his fears. Not only because the others in the camp might hear him, but also because he feared Lori's reaction.

"But…" Lori egged him on.

"Well… I-it's Palpatine. Or someone who sounds very much like him. If he says that he's come back to reform the empire, then I believe him."

Loti tried not to jump to a quick conclusion, but she didn't like where this was going, "Is the Empire something you're interested in?"

"No!" he answered too quickly for Lori to think it was genuine. Wincing at the volume of his own voice, Mitaka checked over his shoulder again before going on more quietly, "No. It's just, I don't know what's going to happen to the First Order. We've always had an… Odd relationship with our precursor state. Many of the old imperials longed for a new empire, while the younger leadership thought that the empire fell because it was weak."

This wasn't news to Lori, she had heard Armitage complaining about the old leadership a hundred times before.

Mitaka's expression became troubled, nervous even, "We're not there so I can't know for sure. But, aren't you worried that there might be some in fighting?"

Ardis squirmed as she reached for one of the small winged lizards that lived in the trees above camp.

Lori adjusted her hold on the little girl before speaking, "News flash for you, there's always infighting. Especially within high command."

"And that doesn't worry you?" he mistook her matter-of-factness for disregard.

Realizing that holding Ardis was a losing battle, Lori put the child down before she started to cry out of annoyance. Once set on the ground, Ardis clung to Lori's leg for something to support her while she stood. Being so much lower and away from the lizards wasn't ideal, but it was less offensive than being held.

"Of course it does," Lori all but hissed as she returned to standing, "but it's nothing new."

That wasn't a lie, but Mitaka's and Lori's interpretation of the words were very different.

Mitaka took them as a harsh reassurance that nothing would change. Living on the outside, he had only just begun to learn how flawed the First Order was. He'd been raised to believe that the First Order was a bastion of reason in a chaotic galaxy, but it turned out that the whole thing had been a tumultuous mess at the top all along. He still wasn't sure how to handle the information, so he had tried to ignore it. Unfortunately, reality had a harsh habit of being difficult to deny.

Lori took her comment as an admission that nothing was meant to last. Years ago she had thought that Armitage was painfully optimistic, in his own twisted way of course. He'd been convinced that the First Order was going to finally bring the galaxy under control. Not that they would be the new empire, but that they would be better than the Empire had ever been. She never believed that, but it had been a nice idea. Dreaming of a stable life had become addicting, and the short time that she had one had felt like a fantasy.

Of course, all good things came to an end. She could only imagine what was happening in the halls of the _Finalizer_ at a time like this.

 _Armie must be frothing at the mouth._ _High command is probably split down the middle, assuming they're even meeting anymore._ She knew very well that Kylo Ren had taken on the mantle of supreme leader. The news had quickly spread through the rebel camp before everyone politely stopped mentioning it when Leia was in earshot.

"Just keep acting like nothing's wrong," Lori spoke again, with Mitaka not having thought of a rebuttal despite the heavy pause in conversation, "I'll figure out how to get us out of this mess."

Mitaka wasn't sure if he was relieved or even more deeply troubled by the defeated slump to Lori's stance. She had been insisting that she would get them home for the last several months, but nothing had happened. No one had let either of them anywhere near a communications terminal. Mitaka knew why he wasn't trusted, and he had seen the overly helpful medic constantly foiling Lori's attempts. Nothing happened when Lori had tried to talk their way off Anoat. And they had only been attacked during their latest attempt at rescue. After all that he'd seen, Mitaka wasn't even sure if he wanted to go back to the First Order.

Instead of voicing any of that, he simply nodded before backing away and hurrying off on one of the many chores he was meant to do around camp.

Lori watched him go. Despite the relative privacy of her corner of the camp, Lori didn't let herself deflate completely. It was enough to have confused and defeated thoughts running through her head, she couldn't let herself show them or she might never be able to reign them back in.

_How is Armitage? I'm sure the rebels would be celebrating if they heard he was dead, so he must still be out there somewhere. But it's been so long since there's been any news. Is he okay? He's probably working himself into a coma, assuming Kylo Ren hasn't beat him into one first._

A sharp tug at the leg of her pants took Lori away from her troubled thoughts.

"Mli!" Ardis pointed at the brightly colored lizards that darted from tree to tree.

Lori gently moved Ardis' hand back down before scooping her up once again, "No. They bite." She felt silly for doing it, but Lori made an exaggerated biting motion to drive her point home.

Ardis thought the gesture was part of a game, and clicked her tiny teeth together in response.

A deep but amused sigh escaped Lori, "I know you can bite too. How about we get you some food?"

Food was one of the few words Ardis recognized, and she perked up at the sound of it. Now wiggling with a new excitement, Ardis clung to Lori's shirt with one hand while waving towards the camp's food stores with the other.

At once proud and devastatingly saddened by how much the infant had learned in such a short time, Lori picked her way through the bustling camp.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux's office was silent. A welcome change of pace from the tumultuous meeting room, it was a place where he didn't need to pretend to be calm, didn't need to hide his own storming emotions from his features.

Slumping into his chair, he didn't activate the computer at ihs desk, instead opting to lean back and stare at the bare ceiling for a moment.

"What an idiot." He spoke about Kylo Ren to the room, even though he himself was already tired of the obvious observation, "He's going to get us all killed."

As the day dragged on and people had pried details out of the supreme leader, it became clear that Kylo Ren had all but forgotten the Resistance and that finding and killing the emperor had become the sole object of his obsessive thoughts.

Hux tried to hold on to his own need for revenge on the Resistance, but he felt the motivation slipping.

He'd been alone for the better part of eight months now and as much as he hated to admit it, being so angry for so long had been a drain. He wasn't over anything. Hadn't forgiven, nor forgotten, but he was impossibly tired.

Everything he had ever worked for was going down in flames. The First Order had fallen into the hands of Kylo Ren. His precious fleets and advanced technologies had been handed over to incompetent leaders. He had no real authority, even Commander Pyre had stopped sending in reports.

And worse of all, he had lost Lori and Ardis.

Even thinking their names caused a lump to sit at the top of his throat, as if he weren't worthy of even that.

 _They're…_ he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge their deaths, as if even thinking it would make the words too real to deny. For now, at least, he could cling to the vanishing hope that they were out there somewhere. That Lori had somehow saved them from the fires.

Another bead of anger dropped onto the massive pile of rage that seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive anymore.

Anger, and fear that was. Fear of being killed, fear of what came next. Some deep seated thing that had never truly grown out of. Some primal fear that might break him if he slide back into the powerless place he had come from.

Hux didn't want to feel any of it, not now.

He was going through the motions when he stood from his desk. He hardly thought of what he was doing when he retrieved a bottle from the small liquor cabinet in the corner of the room.

The clear liquid stung, but its effect was dulled from months of overuse.

The general sat at his desk, utterly alone besides the bottle in his hand.


	13. Traitor

Brixie intently inspected the leaves of a bush as part of a painfully obvious attempt at pretending that she hadn't heard Lori.

"Brixie," Lori wasn't going to drop the conversation that easily, "just hear me out. And you can stop pretending to look at the plant, it's not edible."

The two of them had gone out to forage for food. The stores were running slightly too low for comfort, and Lori had been itching for something to do besides. Brixie had been more than happy to tag along, having a rare moment where no one was in need of medical attention.

Knowing that she had been caught, he young medic wavered before stepping back from the shrub, "well, would you look there, that's not the berry bush I thought it was."

Lori fought not to tap an impatient foot or to roll her eyes. Her plans for slipping away from the Resistance had been foiled time and time again, mostly by the well-meaning medic. Having exhausted her options for sneaking around, Lori decided to try the direct route, though Brixie wasn't making that easy either.

"Just listen for a minute," Lori stepped between Brixie and a curtain of vines, "Brix, I know you think I should stay here. And I'm thankful for all the help, really I am. But a secret base in the middle of a jungle planet is no place for me to raise Ardis."

Brixie stopped on the trail, looking at the forest floor rather than at Lori.

Taking the lack of a clumsy attempt to change the subject as a sign of progress, Lori went on, "We're parsecs away from the nearest inhabited planet, what happens when something goes wrong?

It took her a moment, but Brixie found the nerve to look up, "Nothing is going to happen. And if it does, I can help."

Lori reined in her frustration so that it came across as something a little softer, "I know you can. But some problems can't be fixed in the backwoods. We need supplies, medical and otherwise. Hell, we're out here foraging for food. What happens if Ardis gets sick? We don't have any medicine out here."

"We can find supplies," the medic offered, "Lex is out on a scouting mission right now! And, I'm sure some of these plants have medicinal properties…"

Lori huffed and shifted her stance to settle in for a longer conversation. She wasn't about to give Brixie an out by moving on, "Some of them might, but I don't want to trust maybes and hopefullys. I'm not saying I want everyone to move to Corascant, I just want to go… I don't know, somewhere. Somewhere with a little town, just big enough to stay anonymous in, but not so big that it attracts anyone's attention."

"That sounds like Bastion," Brixie spoke quickly now, as if she were trying to get her words out before the rest of her could convince her to stop talking, "Or Dantooine. The First Order found you once, it's not safe out there."

"That was a fluke," Lori tried to redirect the conversation, "and right now, I'd bet that all of the First Order's resources are going into finding this rebel camp."

"I…" Brixie started before realizing that she didn't have a rebuttal, "maybe."

Lori didn't gloat, but she did have a hand on her hip and a you-know-I'm-right look on her face, "And Ardis should be around kids her age," Lori put on a sad half smile and made a small attempt at a joke, mostly to try and ease Brixie away from being so guarded, "I'm starting to worry that she thinks she's a little lizard."

"I wouldn't go that far," Brixie accepted the olive branch.

"I dunno, she bit Mitaka's finger yesterday."

Chuckling slightly at the idea, Brixie tried to carry on with the lighter conversation, "Are you sure leaving him on babysitting duty was a good idea?"

Lori shrugged, remembering not to comment that he had done the job before, "What's the worst that could happen? Besides, Dak is watching the both of them."

"You left Dak in charge?" Brixie held onto a little bit of humor, but was genuinely concentered.

"Of course not. I'm not that bad a judge of character."

A light breeze rattled the leaves. It seemed a natural place to move on with their search for food, but Lori hadn't forgotten that she was trying to convince Brixie that she and Ardis should leave Ajan Kloss.

"And, I am serious about what I said earlier. Ardis and I should move on."

Brixie once again looked down, searching for a reason to tell Lori that she was wrong, but finding none, "but, it's dangerous."

"Everywhere is dangerous, Brix. Including here."

"I… I could go with you. Just for a little while. You know, just until you find somewhere to settle down."

It was obvious to Lori that Brixie's fearful attachment came from losing all but a few of the people she had come to call family. That fear was only made worse from thinking that she had failed Lori once before.

Lori would have liked to pretend that she was trying to keep the medic away for some altruistic reason. That she was trying to keep Brixie away from the lie she had told. That she was trying to keep the medic out of what might turn into a deadly situation if she reacted poorly to the reality of the situation. Lori even had to admit to herself that she had genuinely come to appreciate Brixie's compassion and dedication. But, she also had to acknowledge that her main motivation for keeping the medic away was pure convenience. That it would be marginally more difficult to get back to Armitage with the medic in tow.

"Thank you," Lori began, "but they need you here more than I do."

.***.***.***.***.

A month after high command had been dissolved, General Hux was still a dead man walking. Burnt out, a tired husk of the man he had once been, he didn't even have a dream of conquest to cling to. As empty as the invasions of Tah'Nuhna and Mon Cala were, they were something to hold on to. Some amount of power to relish.

Now, Hux was meandering through a hangar bay, inspecting a squadron of TIEs that had just returned from a scouting mission.

The job should have belonged to a lieutenant, or maybe a captain, not a senior officer. Certainly not the flag officer of the ship where the TIEs had landed. They weren't even native to the _Finalizer_. These TIEs had only stopped to refuel, ultimately being bound for Admiral Griss's fleet.

The general huffed as he finished downloading the transponder logs from the lead ship.

The TIEs were part of Kylo Ren's precious task force. They had been traipsing around the outer rim, this squadron in particular had been headed by Ushar Ren. A brute wielding a club, Hux only knew the man so much as to know that he loathed him.

The datapad in the general's hand pinged as it finished its download. Unsurprisingly, the TIEs hadn't recorded anything relevant to the hunt for Palpatine. Even more predictably, it looked like their logs hadn't been cleared in more than twice the time that was regulation.

Typically, a TIEs transponder logs were supposed to be cleared and recorded in a database once a month. Partially to keep its onboard computers clear of extraneous data, and also to protect information about the First Order's patrol routes, should the ship ever be shot down and its computers recovered by an enemy.

Irritated at the oversight, Hux ejected the storage chip which held the freshly downloaded information from the data pad. He may have been ordered to go about the menial task of inspecting the TIEs, but simple data entry was still beneath him. Meaning to give the task to some lower ranking officer, Hux cast a tired eye around the hangar bay.

Seeing no one in the cavernous room, he huffed before sliding the data chip into a pocket. He would find someone else later, but for now he did have to finish his inspection.

.***.***.***.***.

"You sure you want to do that?" Dak sat on a stack of boxes while he judged every move Mitaka made.

The former lieutenant offered Ardis a slice of fruit. Remembering last time, he made a point to try to get the infant to pick up the treat with her hand rather than eat it straight out of his.

"I'm sure she didn't bite me on purpose."

Upon hearing the word bite Ardis made an exaggerated chomping motion.

Misunderstanding and taking it as a sign that she wanted the food, Mitaka offered the purple fruit to the little girl once again.

She looked down at the offering, only to shake her head no. The motion was so forceful that she lost her balance and rolled over to the side. Finding some fun in the sudden movement, Ardis uncoordinatedly tried to roll along the floor, laughing like a mad woman as she went.

Almost as amused by the situation as Ardis was, Dak shouted an encouragement from the side, "Look at her go! Quicker than a varactyl!"

Mitaka stood from his crouch, shaking his head and speaking to Dak, "Don't encourage her. She needs to learn to sit down for a proper meal time."

"They sure don't raise you to know how to have fun on them First Order ships, do they?"

Mitaka gave Dak a look that was far less intimidating than he would have liked.

Dak got the gist of the unsaid insult and made a point to ignore Mitaka's mood, "Just sit back and live a little. She'll eat when she's hungry."

Sighing in resignation, Mitaka ate the fruit that he had been offering to the child. "Fine, but when Lori asks why she returned to find Ardis unfed, I'll point her in your direction."

Dak was about to comment that that was a dirty move when he was interrupted by a voice from the edge of the clearing

"Point who in Dak's direction?" Lori stepped out of the brush, Brixie by her side, their packs overfilled with freshly picked fruits and vegetables.

It was Mitaka's turn to say nothing as he pointedly looked to Dak.

"Lori," Dak began with a purposefully jovial tone, "you got back quick."

"Sure did. Now what all were y'all up to?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just watching the kid, she's getting to be a handful."

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll be taking my handful back now. I'm sure you've got better things to do."

Brixie heard the overprotective edge to Lori's words, and was quick to step in. "I'll take your pack to the food stores. Dak, why don't you go see if Kaydel wants to cook tonight. I love Klaude, but I can't have another pot of his mystery stew."

Wanting a moment to talk to Lori undisturbed, Mitaka joined in, "That sounds like a wonderful idea. I think Kaydel was near the armory."

"Well, since you know where she is, why don't you go talk to her yourself?" Dak didn't have any ulterior motives other than laziness.

"Because I don't think she likes me very much, and I also can't survive another pot of Klaude's cooking. Off you go."

"She doesn't like me much either."

"C'mon you two," Brixie stepped in, "you can argue over who Kaydel dislikes more later."

Looking for a way to stay behind, but finding none that wouldn't look suspicious, Mitaka conceded first, "Oh, all right. Come along, Dak."

Dak grimaced at being talked down to, but left with Mitaka and Brixie with nothing more than a barely audible grumble.

Alone with her daughter once again, Lori scooped the child up from the ground before looking into Ardis' eyes as she spoke, "Now let's get you some food."

The baby wiggled as she fervently shook her head.

"No?" Lori translated the motion, mostly out of surprise that Ardis wasn't hungry for once.

Ardis slowed in her back and forth, made slightly dizzy from it. Recovering, and having watched her mother, Ardis tried repeating the sound she just heard, "No."

Lori stopped.

"What?" her stomach dropped at the single word.

_You can't be talking already. You can't. Not without Armie around to hear it. You're not even a year old. Barely even ten months. He can't miss this._

"No!" Ardis repeated, this time giggling with excitement.

"O-okay." Lori's voice caught as a sharp sting came to the edge of her eyes. Deflating, it felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over her.

No one was around to see it, but Lori refused to let a tear fall. Time was passing by impossibly fast. Horrifically painful as it was, Lori knew she had to deal with it. She had to keep it together. Just a little bit longer.

Biting the edge of her lip, Lori cast a glance to the camp.

She was leaving this planet, and if that meant dragging Brixie along, then so be it.

.***.***.***.***.

The uneventful day had slid by. Ushar Ren and his squadron had departed the _Finalizer_ , and Kylo Ren still hadn't returned from his own wild foray into the galaxy. Though he should have been the sole voice of authority left on the _Finalizer_ , Hux had been all but ignored by the crew. Most of them giving him an even wider berth than normal, or leaving the room altogether whatever room he entered. Only Captain Peavy seemed to acknowledge his existence, and even then it was only because Hux was still the _Finalizer'_ s flag officer. All the denial in the world wouldn't change the paperwork still said that the ship answered to him.

 _Until Kylo Ren changes his mind about that too_. Hux thought bitterly to himself as he wandered past the ship's cargo holds. _I used to be the most powerful general in all of the First Order, and now look at me._

Two ensigns hurried past him in the hall without a second glance, as if to demonstrate Hux's thoughts.

The general couldn't find it within himself to even be annoyed, this was becoming such a common occurrence. Instead, he stepped into a component repair room.

He hadn't any official reason to be in here, not that anyone would have questioned him. The room was empty, only in operation during first and second shift. It was the middle of a standard night, and the room's two workstations were abandoned.

The silence of the room wasn't the serene void he had been hoping for. Instead, the lack of distraction left Hux with nothing but his pained thoughts for company.

 _They would still be alive if I had fired on the cruiser more quickly._ The events of the battle over Craite played in Hux's mind, impossible to stop even if he tried. But he didn't attempt to will the dark memory away. Exhausted as he was, as pained and tired and unrelentingly sad as he'd come to be, he was also furious. At Kylo Ren, at the Resistance. At himself. The lifeless existence that he'd eked out seemed like a fitting punishment for his failures.

Buckling under the weight of his guilt, Hux leaned against one of the work stations. As he did, he bumped up against a decrepit old transmitter. The machine must have had a loose wire, because it groaned to life from the small movement.

The gurgling and whirring of the old machine was just annoying enough to convince Hux to try to turn it off. At first slapping at the machine, the general had to turn and work with the transmitter when the blows didn't shut it down.

Its display was yellowed with age, and the screen was difficult to read for how dim it was. Hux had to fiddle with the machine for what felt like ages. In the process, he trudged through the machine's base programming. To his chagrin, it appeared that the device had been compromised, with an extra line in the code set to automatically transmit to a known rebel frequency.

A sour grimace crossed his features.

The First Order still hadn't solved its spying problem. Hux didn't want to dwell on it. Not because it was yet another glaring weakness in the once great First Order -he found that he couldn't spare a care for that ruined dream- but because spying was a problem that reminded him very much of Lori.

Less concerned with fixing the machine, and more because he wanted to wipe the reminder of his losses away, Hux reached into his pocket for a code cylinder. Altering the machines base programing would require an administrative override.

Instead of the long tube he had been searching for, Hux found the data chip he had pulled out of Ushar Ren's TIE.

The little disk of metal and plastic gave him a pause for thought.

What was he now? If anything besides a shadow of the man he had been. If anything besides a washed up general living at the bottom of a bottle of gin.

Being forced into roles beneath him. Ignored, abused, and stripped of power at every turn. He'd been treated like a lieutenant earlier, inspecting TIEs that weren't even his. And now he was sulking around, doing the job of a technician.

He looked back at the compromised transmitter.

The Resistance were scum. Filthy, chaotic, a force of pure destruction that had torn the very life out of Hux. He was grasping at straws, he knew. Desperately searching for anything that reminded him he was still alive, that it hadn't been him who had been killed on the _Supremacy_.

He hadn't forgiven anything, he never would.

The Resistance were scum. So was he.

He considered the data chip in his hand, so much like the one that had held enough information to damn him all those many years ago. Deadly, and small, and so easily overlooked.

And very much a reminder of Lori.

Was he anything beyond spiteful, selfish, or sad?

 _No._ Hux decided, _No, I'm not_.

Hux's life was gone. The First Order was gone. He may as well curse Kylo Ren too.

His hand shook as he slid the data chip into the scrapped transmitter.

Was he a traitor? A spy?

The old machine whirred and whined as it was forced to work one last time. For a long while, Hux was left to nervously worry that someone might walk around the corner and discover the incriminating scene. As time ticked by and no one had happened upon him, the transmitter grew silent, a dim light blinking and then turning solid as confirmation that its message had been sent.

Hux was hit with a rush of adrenaline. Of hope. Of fear. Of the unknown. Of some addicting and sweet and bitter and terrible pang of familiarity and control.

Espionage was Lori's game, not his. In some twisted and cruel way, playing at it reminded him of her.

 _Is this how it feels to be alive?_ The last roar of rushing blood faded from his ears, _Do I even care?_


	14. Hollow Dreams

Mitaka felt hair on the back of his neck stand on end as Finn called for his attention.

"Hey, Mitaka! Come here. Poe and I need to talk to you for a minute." The former trooper stood below an overhanging section of the _Millennium_ _Falcon_ , with Poe nearly out of sight and leaning against a support deeper beneath the ship.

Mind cycling through a dozen uncomfortable scenarios, Mitaka searched for some way to wriggle out of the clandestine meeting with the two men. Seeing no convenient excuses to go elsewhere, he tried to look nonchalant as he approached.

"What is it?" He asked as he came near, still hoping that this conversation might be over quickly.

"We got a question or two for you," Poe spoke from his spot away from prying eyes.

Even if he were back on a First Order ship, Mitaka would have been made uneasy by how suspicious the other two men were acting.

"What is it?" he lingered just beyond the edge of the _Millennium Falcon_ , very aware that venturing further would take him, and whatever these men planned to do with him, out of view.

Finn noticed that the former lieutenant held an air of apprehension. Poe noticed as well, but wasn't going to spare the time to comment on it.

"You were a weapons guy, right?" Poe began.

"Yes. I was a weapons officer. Why do you ask?" Mitaka put an emphasis on the word 'was', careful to appear as if he had no lingering loyalties to the First Order. As he put on his act, he wondered how much of an act it really was.

Poe took a few steps closer to the edge of his hiding place, "So you would know the range of a turbolaser on a First Order destroyer and stuff like that, right?"

As sure as he was that Poe and Finn were picking him over for classified information, Mitaka was surprised at an implied fact. "You don't?" Mitaka looked at Finn.

The former trooper stiffened before trying to appear nonchalant, "I might, but that's not what this conversation is about. We're asking if you know."

_That's a no. I didn't realize the troopers were so unaware._

"It's been quite some time since I've been on a ship," Mitaka tried to deflect the question, "there could have been a system's upgrade in the time I've been gone."

"But if you had to ballpark," Poe goaded him.

The rebel leader had slowly drifted closer through the conversation. Mitaka took an instinctual step backwards.

Finn saw the small movement, and took his own in response. He had told Poe that the lieutenant was flighty, and that they would have to be careful if they were going to use him to check how reliable their new source was. Finn wasn't fully convinced that Mitaka and Lori's story was completely true, but the lieutenant had seemed shocked at the First Order's actions towards them on the dropship. Enough so that he could possibly be talked into doing something directly harmful to the First Order.

"I'm going to level with you, Mitaka," Finn took a gamble, "we got a transmission the other day and we're trying to figure out if the information is good."

"What?"

Poe gave a quick and questioning glance to Finn before deciding to just roll with what he had said, "We don't know who sent it or where it came from, but we go a full systems readout for a _Resurgent_ -class destroyer. It seems a little too good to be true, if you ask me."

"A full read out?" Even when he had been Hux's personal aid Mitaka had only had access to half of the ship's systems. There must have been leaks in at least a dozen different offices to gather that kind of intel, "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Finn answered dead pan.

"I…" Mitaka's mind raced for something to say. It seemed unwise to continue deeper down this conversation, but his curiosity about this supposed source got the better him, "I suppose I could take a look at what you've found."

That answer was a little too all-inclusive for Poe's taste, "Just the weapons systems. Unless you know all about the rest of the ship, for some reason."

Even hinting at the idea that he might have been in direct contact with higher ranking officers seemed like a terrible idea. Mentioning being Hux's aid seemed like an especially terrible idea.

"No, I can only tell you about the weapons systems."

"That will d- Oh crap." Poe stopped mid-sentence as his sight was suddenly locked on something beyond Mitaka.

"Poe!" a shout came from deeper within the camp, "I've been looking everywhere for you, we need to talk."

At first jumping at the sudden sound, Mitaka wasn't calmed by the sight he found when he turned around.

Lori was walking up, a stubborn glint in her eye and what would no doubt be a critical remark at the tip of her tongue.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux sat in his office. Still ground down and barely hanging onto sanity, he had found the tiniest amount of solace in sending secret messages to the Resistance. His first incident of spying had been a spur of the moment decision, made quickly and in a moment of anger and weakness.

But it had been addicting.

Though it wasn't the true power he had wielded only a year ago, he still got a rush from knowing that he was in charge of something. That he was making a difference, even if it was only to spite Kylo Ren.

He still got a rush from feeling so close to Lori.

Hux's hand shook as he slipped his gloves on. He was due on the bridge in half an hour, and his hands had been shaking lately. Whether from the pent-up stress, from the addiction he refused to acknowledge, or from the strange mixture of dread and excitement that came over him when he considered the ramifications of his spying.

He knew he was helping to destroy the only life he had ever known, but the First Order had betrayed him first, had profoundly failed him at every turn. He hadn't any idea what his end goal was, besides wanton destruction. After the First Order fell, he wasn't sure what or who he would be. He wasn't even sure if he would still be alive at the very end.

If his encounters with Kylo Ren had taught Hux anything, it was that he was afraid to die. But he was also deeply uninterested in what was left of his life.

Taking a breath to center himself, Hux retrieved his coat from a hanger near the door. Before putting the heavy thing on, he carefully checked through its pockets.

He'd been meticulous in hiding any evidence that he had been responsible for the information leaks. A wayward data chip in his pocket had been the beginning of this madness, he didn't want the same to be the reason he was caught.

Finding and then sending data had become something of a second job. Hux knew better than to write anything on his own computer. Common sense and an intimate understanding of the First Order's technological capabilities told him that that would be an easy way to be caught. He was also careful not to release any information that could only be traced back to him, instead collecting information from around the order and then sending that out.

In the weeks that had passed since his first message, Hux had told the Resistance the intimate details about the Stormtrooper program, now located on General Engell's ship. He'd relayed the new structure of the First Order's supreme council, the particulars of which were under General Pryde's control. The various tasks of the knights had been sent off last week, which was information that no one person officially knew. He'd sent in patrol maps for the fleet under General Quinn. He'd relayed all of the information that Kylo Ren collected on Emperor Palpatine. And he had added countless details about whatever topic crossed his mind. From fleet numbers, to weapons capabilities, to the locations of First Order supply depots.

Hux had told himself that he would only send one message per week, but that promise had quickly crumbled when he realized the tiny trace of power he felt from spying was the only thing he had left to cling too. Excuses and opportunities to send secret transmissions suddenly appeared everywhere he looked, and he had quickly taken to sending something out every other day.

The constant search for information was a flimsy, but desperately needed, distraction.

Considering what tidbit he would reveal to the enemy next, General Hux left his office and made the short walk to the bridge. Like so many others, he would spend this shift watching the life he had known crumble away.

.***.***.***.***.

 _How much did she hear?_ Mitaka couldn't help but worry that Lori might have misinterpreted his last few words.

"Lori," Poe's face dropped a little, as if he had been purposefully avoiding her, "we'll have to talk later, I was just about to-"

"Just about to run off again?" she cut him off, "you've been avoiding me for three weeks. I need an answer."

Shortly after Ardis had spoken her first word, Lori had gone from floating the idea of her leaving Ajan Kloss to Brixie, to marching up to Poe and telling him that she intended to leave the planet. As far as she could tell, no one was suspicious of her true motive, but the rebels had been dragging their feet.

"I know you do, but now really isn't the right time." Poe talked around Mitaka, who was standing in the middle of their conversation.

It wasn't lost on Lori that the lieutenant looked pained. She hadn't come for the sake of rescuing him, but she decided that leaving him to the rebel's mercy would be a bad idea.

"Then you'll have to make it the right time. But it looks like Mitaka's got something to say first."

"I believe Poe and Finn were contact by a spy from the First Order." He immediately told her what was happening.

Lori wasn't surprised. Spies had been plaguing the First Order since the day it had been formed. She held a special interest in them only because it had been her job to stop them, and because there was a chance that a ring of traitors might try to target Armitage again.

"You don't say?" because it would fit the persona she built for herself, Lori made an effort to seem happy at the news. "did we get anything good from them?"

Finn opened his mouth to try and say that it was none of Lori's business, but Mitaka answered more quickly, "W-we're not sure yet. I was just about to look over the data Poe received. Apparently, our source -or sources- have access to every system in a star destroyer."

A short bit of panic picked at the edge of Lori's features. She tried to disguise it as excitement before hiding behind a faked ignorance. "Every system? That sounds like a lot of info, how many people do you figure it would take to put all that together?"

With that question, Mitaka was sure that Lori understood how dire the situation was. Despite knowing what she had meant, her act was convincing and Mitaka caught himself worrying if he had been unclear.

In the second it took for Mitaka to think past Lori's tone, Poe was able to interject.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a big deal. Do me a favor and keep this quiet."

Lori looked back at Poe and spoke as if she would have never even thought to tell anyone else, "Sure thing. But while I'm here, did we get anything else from our source? Do we know who it is?"

Finn rolled his eyes, "It was Captain Dumb-enough-to-sign-my-name-on-a-stolen-report. No! we don't know who sent it."

"No need to bite my head off," Lori stepped back from the group slightly, "I was just asking. Whoever it is will probably get a blaster bolt to the back of the head if they get found out, but it'd be nice to know who's putting their ass on the line for us."

"I wouldn't think too highly of them. They probably have their own selfish motive," Finn said with a scoff.

The comment drew an offended look from Mitaka and a dubious one from Poe.

Finn noticed both of them, "What? I had one when I saved you."

"Yeah, I remember that bit," Poe looked away from Finn and back to Lori, apprehension and a hint of dread on his features, "Now, about your request. I'm sorry. I get it, you want off this backwater. I can't blame you for that, but we don't have the ship to spare and I can't risk someone learning where we are."

While she had been expecting that response, Lori still didn't take it well. She'd used up most of her energy with faking and hiding emotions, and very quickly snapped as a result, "Poe! This outpost isn't safe! And I won't tell anyone anything. I just want to leave. For Ardis' sake."

"I know that! I already said I'm sorry, but I can't risk everyone here. You can hate me all you want, but it's too risky. I heard that the First Order had a bounty on your head before. I wouldn't blame you for it, but if they catch you again, I can think of one surefire way they could make you tell them anything they wanted to know."

Lori resented the fact that Poe would suggest that the First Order might threaten an infant in order to manipulate their parents. She knew he was absolutely right to fear such a thing, but hearing it out loud still irritated her.

Poe saw the fresh anger in Lori's eyes, and spoke before she had the chance to act on it, "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I'm not changing my mind on this." Looking away from Lori, Poe addressed Mitaka, "You're coming with me. We still need you to double check our intel."

Mitaka looked nervously between the fuming Lori and the almost defeated looking Poe. Knowing that he should probably do something to calm Lori, but being more fearful of her wrath than of any trouble he might find himself in with Poe and Finn, he took a tentative step in the direction of the two men.

Taking that as a sign, Poe moved on without another word to Lori.

Lori watched the group of them go, so fixated on her roiling emotions that she nearly missed Mitaka casting a series of nervous glances over his shoulder.

She didn't take a deep breath to calm down, she wasn't sure that she could. Instead, she was left to think dark thoughts. A few of revenge, and a few so thoroughly drenched in her own fears that she couldn't hold onto them long enough to finish them.

Poe wasn't wrong when he said there wasn't a ship to spare for her. If she were going to steal anything, it would have to be the _Millennium Falcon,_ and that would be a death sentence all on its own.

The only thing she had to distract her might be exposing this mysterious spy that had volunteered their services.

The realization felt bitter. Armitage and her had both acknowledged that she would have to give up her spy catching ways after they had Ardis.

She should be working a safer job now, rather than being deeply imbedded in a rebel cell, chasing down leads like she had on Armitage's orders. Being forced into the very thing that she had decided to give up, that had once been her sole purpose, felt like a betrayal and an admission that the life she had planned had been nothing more than a hollow dream.


	15. Happy Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, and I'm sorry.

An eerie silence lingered on the bridge.

The data readouts flickered with their endless streams of information. The stars sat as distant pin points of light, millions of miles away from the looming star destroyer. The operators sat at their terminals, each of them too scared to make a sudden move but even more afraid to appear as if they were failing at their job.

Kylo Ren had been off the ship for weeks, with his knights gone along with him. Though the black clad force users were away, the _Finalizer_ was still haunted by an equally dark force.

General Hux stood on the bridge. Hands stiffly clasped behind his back, he appeared to be staring into the void, watching the flickering light of distant stars.

The crew was surprised that Hux had shown up today.

The anniversary of the attack on the _Supremacy_ was less than two weeks away. There weren't any plans for a memorial, or celebration, or any acknowledgment of the occasion at all. The crew all knew that the general hadn't gotten over the attack, and they had expected him to be even worse than usual when it came near.

What they hadn't expected were the hushed warnings that came from their coworkers in the records department.

Not only was the anniversary of the attack in less than two week's time, but today would have been the general's daughter's first birthday. There hadn't been a word of discussion about it in the bridge, with each of the crew members knowing better than to dare bring it up.

General Hux could feel the tension in the air. It made his skin crawl while also providing some cold and twisted comfort. He wouldn't be the object of anyone's pity, he refused. He could have taken the crew's weariness of his every move to be proof that they still knew that he was really in control of this ship. But he knew that they were simply fearful that he might do something erratic, that he might order them to invade or attack a planet without Kylo Ren's approval.

 _They don't give a damn about what I do. They're only concerned for themselves._ The most bitter part of his realization came from the fact that Ren was still in charge even when he wasn't there.

The sharp surface thoughts that Hux tried to focus his distain on didn't do anything to distract him from his real issue of the day. He hadn't woken up in a bad mood that morning, so much as he had drifted in and out of a drunken stupor through the night. He had only managed to pull himself together when he had come across an opportunity for espionage.

A shipment of new data encoders where bound for the _Absolution_. Hux had only been coaxed out of his office so that he could approve the shipment and pocket an extra encoder. He'd only held onto it long enough to slip it into another shipment that was bound to some no name mining operation in the mid rim. He'd even included a short letter explaining the components importance.

Hux tried to tell himself that he only put the extra effort in so that his leaked data would actually be useful. But he knew that he had just been looking for a distraction. It wasn't even a very good distraction, as the whole thing had reminded him of Lori. In a moment of weakness, he had even singed his note with her initials.

Hux shifted his stance slightly. _That can be fixed by writing more letters with more random names later. Let them think that there are hundreds of spies._

A perceivable nervous shuffle rippled through the crew as the general moved.

Hux steadied himself, wishing that he were capable of a full nights sleep. In lieu of that, he had been hoping for the constant murmur of activity of the bridge. That might have been something to keep his mind preoccupied.

Instead, he was left to wait until he could no longer stand. Then he would all but crawl back to his office and wait for tomorrow so that he could start the whole charade over again. That was what he had done for months now, and today was no day to change that pattern.

The general tried to correct his slipping stance once again.

_But today isn't like the others, is it?_

Neither Lori nor him had ever been the ones to hold a loud celebration. He knew that they wouldn't have held a party, but he also knew that they would have done something special. He knew that today should have been a good day.

.***.***.***.***.

Today had been eventful, and it looked like it would remain that way.

Finn and Poe had left an hour ago. Lori hadn't been told the details, but the open-air nature of the camp made it difficult to hide the very loud and very rushed holocall that had come in from the mid-rim. The voice was garbled, but Lori was able to tell that a new, and apparently extraordinary, piece of information had been leaked.

The spy had been the subject of debate within the camp. At first people had doubted the information that had been sent out, it seemed too good to be true. But after the information had turned what would have been suicide missions into narrow escapes, and after Mitaka had confirmed some pieces of information, the rebels had come to rely on the mysterious source.

A sharp sound from Ardis grabbed Lori's attention, "Foo!"

Lori looked down at the infant to find her making the exaggerated biting motions that she had grown fond of.

"Hold on a minute," Lori spoke to the little girl before scooping her up.

Brixie had insisted that they do something to celebrate Ardis' first birthday. Lori appreciated the gesture, and she knew that Ardis would have fun with whatever the medic had planned. But the very idea of acknowledging Ardis' first birthday without Armitage felt like a punch to the gut. A blow made all the worse by the fact that she should have been able to find a way around it. Lori had always been one to talk herself out of trouble, but when she had needed that skill the most, she had found herself failing at every turn.

 _Some smooth criminal I am. Can't even sneak away from, what…_ she looked around the camp as she walked towards Brixie's field hospital, _ten people? Is that all it takes to keep me trapped on a no name planet?_

Lori hadn't passed a single functioning ship on her walk, but that didn't stop her from telling herself that she was an utter failure, that she should have found some other way off planet.

"Lori! You're early." Brixie's carefree voice barely managed to distract Lori from her self-loathing.

The medic was standing on her examination table, holding a vine with brightly colored flowers woven through it. One end was tied to a low branch, and she had been in the middle of unsuccessfully trying to secure the other end.

"I didn't realize you were going to decorate."

They definitely didn't have much, but Brixie had tried to string up as many bright and colorful trinkets as she could. That mostly meant flowers, but there were a few defunct machine components hanging in bunches. Swaying slightly with the breeze, they made faint clinging noises that Ardis excitedly reached for. Dak had been roped into helping and just managed to turn on a sting of lights as Lori approached.

Brixie abandoned the vine and climbed down from the table as she replied, "Of course! It is a party after all."

The gesture was sweet, but Lori had to force her lazy smile, "It looks great. Thank you."

"No problem. I think we could all use a little cheering up." Brixie looked over to a now unoccupied Dak, "Hey, Dak. Can you tie this vine? The branch is out of my reach, even when I'm on the table."

The bounty hunter protested as he approached, "Can't you just stack some boxes on top of the table?"

"That doesn't seem very safe," Brixie looked between a group of boxes and the platform.

Lori was much more impatient when she gestured for Dak to get on with it, "just get up there."

Dak would have pushed back, but he knew that Lori would end up pressuring him into actually having to do work in the end. With a grumble, he pulled himself onto the table and went to work.

Brixie cast a quick look of thanks at Lori before going on with the conversation, "besides, I think Ardis likes the change in scenery."

The infant had completely forgotten that she had asked for food just a minute ago, and was now impatiently reaching out for one of the clattering bundles of metal that swayed from the trees. Lori let the squirming infant down, only for Ardis to use her leg as a support while she climbed her way to standing.

"Suppose she does," the unfretted joy and fascination on Ardis' features took the edge off of Lori's darkened thoughts, but not even that was capable of wiping the stubborn things away completely.

After a year of knowing Lori, Brixie was well aware that the former bounty hunter was slow to speak on personal problems. She had only heard Lori even mention Ardis' father once, and even then it was a quick spur of the moment thing.

Taking a gamble, but being pretty sure she was right, Brixie tried to take a gentle approach to the topic, "I'm sure he'd be proud, to see her looking around like that. You've done a great job."

Lori heard the medic's softened tone, but the words came as a painful blow. Trying not to let the medic's ignorant optimism get to her, Lori bit her tongue.

Brixie misinterpreted the pause as an invitation to continue her comments, "She's got your eyes, but she must look a lot like him."

A harsh stinging formed at the edge of Lori's eyes. She knew that she must be red in the face, and the fact that she was slipping in a way that people could no doubt see added a fresh layer of anger to the exhaustion.

"It's okay, you can-"

"I can't." The last time Lori had cried in front of another person had been on the _Finalizer_ with Armitage, and she couldn't let herself be that vulnerable in a place like this.

Brixie was trying to be helpful. Trying to be a caring friend. Conflicted and knowing that she shouldn't be acting this way, the display of genuine sympathy set Lori even further on edge.

The medic opened her mouth to make a worried comment.

"Don't" Lori looked at Ardis as she spoke, straining herself to sound even a little bit calm, "It's Ardis' birthday. Let's leave it at that."

.***.***.***.***.

Hux didn't stagger back to his office, but he did fall into his chair, made unable to stand by the weight of the day. Though he was there for several hours, he hadn't uttered a word on the bridge. He only wanted this day to slide by, an immutable blur like all the others.

But the thoughts about the day he should be having plagued him.

The pain seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive these days. Tired of living but too afraid to die, Hux reached for one of the bottles that sat at the edge of his desk. Several clear containers clogged the table, a few empty ones having fallen to the ground.

The office was a mess. In shambles and a disgrace, he thought it reflected his emotional state a little too well. He didn't bother to hang up his coat anymore, instead wearing it like it would serve as some flimsy armor between him and everything else. Data pads were strewn across the desk. Code cylinders were loose in drawers, and a few sat scattered on the table. Other mounds of debris, some work related and some personal covered the durasteel surface.

Ignoring the mess, Hux poured himself a drink.

The liquor stung, its sensation little more than a bitter reminder that he was still alive while they weren't.

Hating every decision he made, Hux threw himself headlong into the terrible maelstrom of fear and anger and all the dreadful thoughts in his head. He had to. He had to do something because the only other choice was giving in completely. Falling to the despair, and wallowing in a tomb of his own creation.

It hurt. Every day was a dagger to the chest, and every accursed breath brought with it the wish that it would be his last. It would have been the best and easiest thing to let go, to embrace the liberating apathy of despair.

But he wouldn't. He couldn't.

He took another drink.

A blaster sat on his desk.

Hux clung to the hope that tomorrow might be different. He gripped the pain and let it be proof to himself that he was still alive. He let the terrible need for control, the obsession with power, be his driving force. No one would defeat him, least of all himself.

Forgetting the empty glass he took a drink straight from the bottle. When that one was finished, he staggered to the cabinet at the other end of the room. Unable to stay standing, he slumped to the floor and haphazardly reached for the nearest bottle.

Trying not to care a single ounce what he did to himself that night, Hux forced himself be grateful that he could no longer stand to reach his desk.

Then he realized that the blaster wasn't the only thing sitting on it's surface. The holodisk, one year old tonight, sat beside it. Battered, broken, nearly unrecognizable, it lay perfectly within his reach yet impossibly far away.

A tangle of emotion came to torment him again.

 _Are they out there somewhere? Safe. Please?_ He knew that his hopes were impossible, _They have to be. They have to be!_

"Come here… please… come here." His words were slowed and slurred and so very small in the derelict room.

He reached forward, arm weighed down by a half filled bottle. His head swam as he swayed. The attempt to see them again ended in predictable failure as he slumped over, the bottle cracking against the ground and his face landing with a cold slap.

Choking on the liquor and his own uneven breath, he sobbed a single word, "Please."

The only things to answer him were the cold floor and the colder liquor soaking into his uniform. He didn't bother shoving the bottle away, he hadn't the ability to roll to the side.

Instead he closed his eyes and desperately tried to hold on.

.***.***.***.***.

"Happy Birthday!" a handful of voices rang out in the clearing.

They were still low on supplies, and there were important tasks at hand, but the rebels had taken a moment away to play along with Brixie's plan for a party. The small celebration was a welcome chance to ignore the pressure they were under; A small distraction from the looming danger of the First Order, and the seemingly endless despair that came from living at the edge of the galaxy.

Ardis had no way of understanding the significance of the day one way or another, and simply enjoyed being the center of attention. She had happily taken the colorful fruits that had been offered to her, and had spent the better half of her little party messily squishing and eating them.

By the time Ardis had finished with her treats, most of the rebels had drifted back to their stations. The few who remained offered trinkets to the infant. Most of them were crudely crafted from scrap or fashioned from the plants around camp. Despite their jerry-rigged nature, Ardis had been happy to rattle and toss the toys as far as her little arms would allow.

The party had drifted to a close not long after Ardis decided to turn the occasion into play time. Besides Lori and Ardis, the only ones remaining in the decorated section of the clearing were Brixie, Mitaka, and Dak.

Brixie laughed slightly as she watched Ardis cling to Lori's leg.

Mitaka followed the medic's line of sight, purposefully not catching Lori's eye as he did. Ardis was growing every day, her hair had gotten longer and fuller. Going from a barely there whisp to a still thin mop that fell just above her jaw, it was still the same vibrant red shade as the general's.

Mitaka found himself tensely comparing the infant's features to those of her father. It was still too early to tell, but Mitaka was sure that Ardis' nose and jaw would be identical to Hux's. The little girls eyes were thankfully similar to Lori's, but Mitaka knew that anyone would be able to see the familial resemblance if they saw Ardis and the general standing side by side.

At the moment, Ardis was barley supported by her pudgy legs, and joyfully shouting 'no' at Dak whenever he offered her a toy. The giggles grew tenfold every time the wiry bounty hunter set down whatever he was holding in an overly dejected way. Only for him to fetch something else and for the process to repeat.

Brixie gave a lighthearted comment at the display, "I don't know if she actually means 'no', or if she just likes telling people what to do."

 _She doesn't just look more like the general._ He found himself coming to a troubling realization.

Mitaka tried to hide his nervous shuffle at the innocuous comment, though he couldn't help but let some of his worries surface, "I suspect it's the latter."


	16. Episode 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning & happy whatever winter holiday you celibate. If Christmas/Hanukkah/Yule/Saturnalia/Kwanzaa/whatever isn't your thing, than happy arbitrary Thursday in December.

General Hux was beside himself.

Kylo Ren had returned only one short day ago, but so many things seemed to have spun out of control in that time.

Ren had found the Emperor. What was worse, was that the supreme leader hadn't killed the old man. Instead, he had returned to the First Order fleet with some fresh fervor about him, madly moving about the ship, demanding impossible tasks from each and every person he came across.

The supreme leader had called an emergence meeting of the supreme council. Hux was sure that it wouldn't shed any light on the situation beyond what he had already heard.

Besides, what he had already heard was troubling enough. The emperor had somehow amassed a fleet. Not just any fleet, but one that apparently dwarfed the First Order's. He wasn't sure how a dead man at the edge of the galaxy had managed to secure such a thing, nor how he had even a fraction of the people necessary to crew it. But, Hux had seen the data and the blueprints, and he knew exactly what these new machines were capable of.

More troubling still, was the apparent timeline that Palatine had somehow forced Kylo Ren into. Hux had his doubts, but he didn't put any half mad plot past the force users. This new phantom fleet was set to launch and begin its campaign across the galaxy within the next two days.

The sheer impossibility of it all would have grated at Hux if he still had the energy to spare on being annoyed. Instead, he was left with a dull anger at the situation, _I spent years -a decade- creating the greatest weapon in the galaxy, and these damnable people appear out of nowhere! How!?_

The scenery around the general turned from the bustling main corridors of the _Finalizer_ , to the rarely seen back hallways, used mostly by maintenance droids and cleaners. Moving down the narrow and winding things, he didn't need to worry about moving silently as he brooded. He doubted that there was even a soul down here, with how busy they were attending to Kylo Ren's every whim.

What was in the halls were the most overlooked and rarely maintenanced control panels. Being so far away from the main paths, Hux was fairly certain that they had all escaped Kylo Ren's notice, and as a result hadn't needed replacing for the better part of twenty years.

In the near perfect silence, Hux listened for the sound of any would be witnesses approaching. Predictably hearing none, he set about typing a short letter of warning.

The last several messages he had sent had escaped the First Order's notice. Or at least, he assumed so. He wasn't sure that anyone would bother telling him, even if they found evidence of a spy on his ship.

Typing out what he had overheard, Hux wondered how much detail to include. Too much might be identifying, and too little would make his warning utterly useless. Debating whether or not he really cared if he got caught, Hux decided to keep as much detail as possible, though he did change the true time of the fleet's launch from two days from now, up to twenty-four hours from now.

_Let them panic. And it's better that the rebels find a way to ruin this sooner rather than later._

Not at all satisfied, Hux encoded his message before sending it and leaving the nearly forgotten terminal.

He had a meeting later that day. As much as he would prefer to do literally anything else, he had some things he needed to see to before it began. Made powerless he was a glorified errand boy, and he knew that he couldn't afford to leave his tasks unfinished.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori tried to hide a nervous tick as Mitaka finished talking.

"Yes, it was signed LG." he reassured her.

Mitaka was rarely able to read the full reports that the First Order spy leaked to the Resistance, but he was able to see parts of the raw data. Once or twice, he had even been allowed to read the personalized letters that came along with the information. Between what the lieutenant told her, what she was able to pry out of Brixie, what she'd been able to skim computer screens at a distance, and what she had overheard simply from being in the camp, Lori thought there was was something sinkingly familiar about the way the spy wrote.

Though Lori had only seen sentences at a time, whoever was writing these instructions was mercilessly condescending, and apparently had no faith in the Resistance's ability to piece together information on their own. She wouldn't admit it, and she almost didn't let herself think it, but Lori couldn't help but be reminded of Armitage.

"And the other letter had a different set of initials?" she asked for clarification.

"Yes. By what I've heard, they all do."

"But the first one was LG?" She couldn't help but notice that her own initials had been signed on the letter.

Mitaka nodded, apparently not connecting the same dots as Lori "do you think that's our spy's true initials? That the others are just a cover up to hide their identity?"

Lori had other suspicions.

"Maybe," she lied, "but that wouldn't explain how they know so many different things."

The lieutenant seemed pensive for a moment, before agreeing, "You're right. Should we be doing something, though? Can we do anything?"

Lori heard two different meaning to Mitaka's question.

He should be asking if there was some way for them to expose the spy. If there was some way to make it obvious that the Resistance was operating on stolen information, and if there was some response they could send back that would definitely get them caught. What she though he was asking, was whether or not there was some way for them to help this spy escape. Or to keep them safe from discovery.

Mitaka hadn't said anything about his slipping loyalties out loud, but Lori had watched as his pretending to have turned against the First Order became more and more genuine. At first it was his willingness to help them test the veracity of the spy's reports, but then the little things had begun to stack up. He'd been less nervous and defensive when the people around camp mentioned the Order's shortcomings. He'd been friendlier to the less intimidating rebels, mostly Brixie and Klaude. Lori even noticed him being more distant towards her and Ardis in the last few days.

Lori didn't call him on the subtle changes, sure that it would do more harm than good. If her suspicions about this spy were correct, than she might be able to use Mitaka's willingness to protect them to her advantage.

"Let's hold tight for now," she gave Mitaka a non-answer before making another attempt to pull useful information out of the man, "You did say that most of the messages were transmissions, right?"

"Most of them," Mitaka made a genuine effort to remember how they had gotten their information, "We were only sent a physical item once of twice, but we've gotten loads of transmitted data."

Lori didn't like that he was saying we, but she didn't comment on it.

 _Armie always was a computer person._ She found herself thinking, and at the same time doubting, _but it'd be a hot day on Hoth before he decided to help the Resistance. Do they have something on him?_

_They couldn't or else they wouldn't be chasing their tails trying to figure out who their spy is. Did something happen to the First Order? Sure, Ren took charge, but it couldn't be that bad. Right? Did they do something to Armie?_

"Lori?" Mitaka asked as she had a glazed over look.

 _You're overthinking this. It's not him._ She tried to shake the thought from her mind.

"It's nothing." She tried to dismiss her own thoughts, "I'm just confused, is all."

She was pretty sure that Mitaka didn't believe her, as the young man nodded slightly before taking a step back.

"That's all I have time for now. I'm supposed to be taking inventory with Rose."

Lori gestured to the side, "you better go on then."

Mitaka took the dismissal and scurried off without another word.

Alone with her thoughts once again, Lori was left to dwell on her would be revelation.

She was never truly tied to the First Orders cause. She thought their ideals were no different than the Empire's or the New Republic's. Good or evil, the First Order had simply been the most convenient way for her to live a comfortable life. Armitage had been the one tied to the ideal that was the Frist Order. Growing up obsessed, convinced that the First Order would bring order to a chaotic universe.

Had something happened? Ren was a mad man, and Lori knew exactly how much Hux loathed the other man. Had the would-be dark lord finally done something to make Armitage snap? Was this about Palpatine's broadcast? She hadn't heard a single word about what the First Order was doing in response to the dead mans return. Had that specter done something to turn Armie against the First Order?

Lori shook her head.

_Armie isn't the spy._

_Is he?_

.***.***.***.***.

Hux was sure that no one knew he was the spy.

He was also sure that the others within the First Order had only just now realized that there was a spy at all. His reason for thinking as much wasn't from paranoid guessing, or from overhearing wild rumors.

The evidence he was faced with was much more solid than any of that.

The severed head of an ovissian landed on the meeting table with a heavy thud. Features drained of life and slightly dried from the longer travel between the place where he was killed and the _Finalizer_ , the head still managed to look like it was from a recently killed man.

"We have a spy in our ranks, they just sent a message to the Resistance." Kylo Ren loomed at the head of the meeting table, his mask set back in place, though it had been reforged; thin lines of red metal filling in the cracks and gashed he had caused, "Whoever this traitor is won't stop us. With what I've seen on Exagol, the First Order is about to become a true empire."

Hux tried not to shift in his seat. He'd sent his message out not but four hours ago. He had no way of knowing what information this man had been caught with. Given Kylo Ren's assurance that the news would do the Resistance no good, despite their knowing it, Hux believed that this was about Palpatine's fleet.

"I sense unease…" the silence that had settled in the room was once again interrupted by Kylo Ren's garbled voice, "…about my appearance, General Hux."

Hux fought not to stiffen at his name, each of the others at the table swiveling to look at him. At once relieved that the would-be dark lord had misidentified the true reason for his discomfort, and also unnerved that Ren had thought to focus on him at all, he answered, "About the mask? No, sir. Well done."

The fake and hurried comment was a bitter, and Hux was sure that everyone at the table new exactly how forced it was.

None of them seemed to really care, however, with General Parnadee deciding that she could use the opportunity for brown-nosing, "I like it."

Hux let the spare comment be a welcome distraction. Being more than a little true to himself, he shot Parnadee a poisonous glare.

General Quinn hoped that now might be the best time to raise a question, with Ren having just been complimented, and Hux having been cowed, "Forgive me, sir, but these allies on Exagol. They sound like a cult. Conjurers and soothsayers."

Kylo Ren didn't have a chance to cut Quinn down with a harsh comment before General Pryde did.

"They've conjured legions of star destroyers," he emphasized the word conjure at once making his own point and mocking Quinn's, "The Sith fleet will increase our resources ten thousand-fold. Suck range and power will correct the error of Starkiller Base."

Hux didn't miss that Pryde was mocking him along with Quinn.

General Engell didn't mind the obvious slights being delivered to the two younger men as she made her own analytical comments, "We'll need to increase recruitments. Harvest more of the galaxies young."

Hux didn't pretend that her comment was as neutral as she made it seem. She had taken the stormtrooper program from him as well, and this was no doubt a thinly veiled reminder of the fact.

Quinn was taken aback by the more senior officers dismissal of his concerns. This time speaking loudly to the table, he asked, "This fleet, what is it? A gift? What is he asking for in return-"

A sudden an sickly crunch came from Quinn's neck as he was suddenly flung upward. The man scarcely had time to reach up to his throat before slamming against the ceiling with a heavy thud. Grasping, and chocking, Quinn's body jerked and shook as he fought for breath.

The sudden commotion had rattled the table, each of the officers around it suddenly looking up in fear and then desperately trying to ignore the dying man pin to the ceiling.

Kylo Ren looked away from Quinn. He didn't release the general, who had begun to grow quiet in his struggle, "Prepare to crush any worlds that defy us. My knights and I are going hunting got the scavenger."

As the last trace of life was choked out of the general on the ceiling, a few bitter words came to Hux.

 _Really. The galaxy is at stake, and you're searching for the scavenger. Don't you have more important things to be dealing with?_ General Hux knew better than to dwell on the acidic thought more than sure that he would meet a similar fate as Quinn if he did.


	17. Two Hours

"He's a loon, is what he is." A hushed voice just barely drifted into the hallway before disappearing completely in the open space.

General Hux only heard the nearly silent technician complaining because he had stopped less than a meter away from the open laboratory doors. Before Kylo Ren's reign, Hux would have been quick to silence any complaints he heard in the lower ranks. Now, he found a thin and joyless pleasure in hearing that they thought Ren was just as mad as he did.

"The trooper that dropped the beads off said that he was talking to himself, again." The same voice as before spoke, "Well, he said that Kylo Ren thought that he was telling Rey that Palpatine wanted her dead. But he was just yelling into an empty room."

A heavy sigh came from a second person, "I don't care what the supreme leader thought he was doing, lets just get these analyzed and be done with it."

"But don't you think this is weird?" the first voice wasted no time in asking, "How did he even get these things? And why are we trying to figure out where they're coming from? Shouldn't he know?"

A third voice chimed in, this one sounding a few years older than the first two, "It's better to not ask questions. Especially when they sound like doubts."

"I'm not saying that the supreme leader is incompetent. I'm just saying that this is weird."

A muffled pinging of a machine began and then suddenly came to an end.

"The results are in," the second voice commented on the noise, "and it sounds to me like you just volunteered to give them to the supreme leader. If you're that interested in answers, then you can ask him yourself."

"Whoa, now. I didn't say-"

Hux had listened long enough. Wanting to know for himself what was happening with these strange beads that Ren had collected from who-knows-where, the general nonchalantly stepped into the laboratory.

"General Hux." The elder technician was the first to react, having been the only one to see Hux enter the room.

The other two were quick to turn and face him. One held a string necklace, apparently hand carved beads barely hanging onto it. The other was in the center of the room. Leaning against a table, his back was originally to the door.

The others said nothing to Hux. Their surprised and more than a little worried expressions betraying the fact that they hoped that Hux hadn't heard any part of their conversation.

Hux didn't mind the two younger technicians. Their caution around him could have been a reassuring reminder that some on the ship were still weary of him, but it seemed hollow and token.

The general didn't spare any time on pleasantries. He never did but now especially, he wasn't concerned with them. Instead, he looked to the beads that he already knew about, "What have you got there?'

Upon seeing the second technician hesitate, the oldest technician spoke for her, "We're lacking all of the details, sir, but these beads are affiliated with the Resistance in some way. We've been instructed to identify them for tracking purposes."

His answer was dry and devoid of any real information. For a second Hux let himself be paranoid that they suspected him of leaking information. That someone higher up the chain had warned the crew not to tell him anything.

 _That would be just like them, undermining me on my own ship._ A bitter thought rolled through Hux's head.

The rest of the supreme council were still on the _Finalizer_. With their meeting only having ended a couple of hours ago. Worse still was the fact that it looked like they would remain on his ship until this supposed mystical fleet of magically appearing star destroyers came online.

Ignoring the more irritating aspects of reality, Hux tried to focus on the situation at hand, "Is that so? Tell me then, what have you discovered."

A small uncomfortable shuffle came from the technicians. Hux debated whether or not to take that as a sign that they knew.

Finally, the technician in the back, holding onto the necklace answered, "It comes from the Middian system planet Pasaana. Specifically as part of some ancestral celebration in the Forbidden Valley region."

Hux tucked away the information for later use. He was unaware of any information linking the rebels to Pasaana, but it seemed so rare for people to tell him anything of value these days.

"Ah." He only half feigned disinterest, "as you were then."

The tension in the room dropped just as suddenly as it had risen as General Hux left. He was sure that the technicians would gossip and tell their friends about his odd intrusion into their space. He even considered that they might begin to suspect that his strange behavior was a hint of something more sinister.

As the general walked through the silent halls of the _Finalizer_ , he wondered when he had started being so blasé. When he had started acting so carelessly while collecting information to be sent out. He still feared death, but it seemed distant, even when he knew that a single misplaced comment in front of Ren could be his last.

The halls began to grow a little more crowded as Hux neared his office.

Not seeing any knights, Hux let himself linger on a morbid thought, _I suppose it is just a matter of time until I get caught. What will happen then?_

.***.***.***.***.

Lori was more and less sure of herself with each passing minute.

The _Falcon_ had made a crash landing mere hours ago. After a rushed repair job, the old rust bucket had been sent off on another wild mission. Lori wasn't at all concerned for it's crew, in a small stroke of luck Poe, Finn, and Rey had been among those that left.

With Poe and Finn gone, one of her biggest obstacles to leaving the planet was out of the way.

What was far more troubling, was the fact that she had grown more sure of the spy's identity. When the _Falcon_ returned, it brought with it a new report from the First Order. This one claimed that Kylo Ren was now serving the emperor, and that the old ruler would be launching an armada of star destroyers in twenty-four hours.

That news by itself was troubling enough, but the way it was written was what really set Lori on edge. She hoped that the details contained in the message were well known, but she doubted it. Sure that only a senior officer would have access to all of this information, she couldn't help but think that the letter sent along with the information sounded like Armitage wrote it.

 _Don't be ridiculous_ , standing to the side of the command area, Lori tried to silence her worries as she listened in on the resistance leaders, _Armie wouldn't turn traitor. Right? Not unless something major happened. Would the First Order falling into Paplatine's hands be enough?_

A small commotion came from a huddle of higher ups. Lori watched as a man did a quick double take at a screen before beckoning over Leia and Rose.

 _Ah, it might be._ She admitted to herself just as the group began speaking.

"General," man began, "we're getting reports of a raid at the Festival of Ancestors, on Pasaana."

"This mission is everything, we cannot fail. Have we heard anything from Rey?"

The same man typed away at the same transmitter he had been fidgeting with before the two women arrived, "The _Falcon'_ s not responding."

Hearing the grave edge on the man's words grated on Rose, "Do you have to say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Do me a personal favor?" Leia interjected into the quickly deteriorating conversation, "Be optimistic?"

Past that comment, the conversation grew slightly too hushed for Lori to make out. Rose's reaction of a heavy eye roll and obvious sigh made it clear enough that she didn't agree with whatever brand of optimism the man chose to reply with. As Rose stepped away from the conversation all together, she looked rattled. Enough so that Lori decided that she might be able to turn the situation to her advantage.

As Rose drew closer, Lori picked up a slightly too large box before stepping out of her partially hidden alcove and intentionally into Roses path.

"Whoa!" Rose tried to stop short, but still collided with the oversized crate that Lori was struggling to hold.

"Wha- agh!" upon impact, Lori made a show of dropping the crate while apparently barely managing to stay upright herself.

"I'm so sorry!" Rose was quick to apologize, "are you okay?"

Lori cast a dejected look at the crate, its contents now spilled over the forest floor, "yeah, I'm fine. I didn't see you there, sorry."

"It's okay, I should have been looking where I was going." While Rose was trying to be nice, Lori could still see that the conversation from the command area was still eating at her, "Here, I'll help you clean up."

"Thank you," Lori knelt down to collect the machine components along with Rose. With the first bit of her plan set in motion, Lori tried to keep the conversation going, "And, uh. I don't think I've had the chance to mention this, but I also wanted to thank you for before, too."

Rose gave Lori a slightly confused look before suddenly being hit with a realization, "That's right. The _Supremacy_. Thank you, but you don't have to thank me."

"But I insist," the small lie felt bitter, but Lori didn't show it, "My daughter and I are alive because of you. We owe you our lives."

"I wouldn't go that far," Rose set an armful of components back in the box before reaching for more on the ground.

"I would," Lori mirrored the motion before stalling a bit, "is something wrong? You look a bit upset."

Rose wavered before speaking, "Kind of. It's my own fault, but I'm starting to think that I should have gone with Rey. It sounds like they're in trouble."

Lori abandoned the remaining components, and tried to settle into a longer conversation, "What do you mean by that."

"It's… So they're trying to find this wayfinder, right? And that should show us where Exagol is, and then we can go there and fight the emperor. But it sounds like the First Order is tracking the _Falcon_ , somehow, and… I just wish there was something we could do about it besides sit here and watch."

While that was slightly more informative than what Lori had overheard, it still wasn't why she had decided to talk to Rose in the first place, "Yeah, that does sound like a lot. Do we know how they're tracking the _Falcon_? Maybe it's bugged."

"I don't think so," so engrossed in the conversation, Rose had also given up on cleaning the remaining components, "We got another report from the spy. He said that Kylo Ren found some beads, and that they were able to trace them back to Pasaana. I don't know how he would have gotten them, this whole thing doesn't make sense if you ask me."

Lori tried to ignore mention of the spy, but she couldn't help but comment on them, "It is strange. Do you think the spy's information is good?"

She shook her head, "I don't trust them, but we just got a report of a raid on Pasaana. They must know what we're doing there, the _Finalizer_ just showed up. They wouldn't send that ship out for anything less."

Hearing the name of her old home and Hux's flagship only served to convince Lori that he was somehow behind this.

"You're right," she didn't speak on her suspicions, "are we planning anything? How are we supposed to get to Exagol? Last I checked, we didn't have any ships."

Rose didn't suspect that Loris' innocuous comment was her fishing for information, "That might change. In about two hours we're supposed to get a supply drop. Leia has an old friend at a shipyard, and we're pretty sure he's sending some freighters that he pulled out of the scrap heap."

Lori blinked at the opportunity she'd just found. Sure that she misunderstood something, she said "Wait, we don't know who's coming to this planet, how many of there are, or what they're carrying."

A heavy shrug pulled at Rose's shoulders, "We take what we can get."

 _Oh, I'll be taking whatever I can_. She managed a tentatively hopeful thought.

"Can't argue with that logic," Lori said instead, before scooping up the last component that had fallen to the ground, "I hate to take up any more of your time. I got to get these over to Klaud, and it sounds like we're about to be busy."

"Hopefully we're busy in a good way." Rose replied before taking a step back as Lori lifted the over large box once again.

Lori didn't want to stall for long, but she did need to keep true to her persona, "Oh, and again. Thank you."

Rose gave a slight gesture that served as a good-natured dismissal, "Don't mention it."

Nodding along before heading towards Klaud's workshop, Lori was quickly putting a plan together. First, she would need to gather a bundle of supplies, no more than what she could carry in a backpack. She would have to avoid Brixie while she found an excuse to be near the landing pads. Once the ships landed, she would wait until their crews began unloading. Then she would slip onto whichever one looked the most convenient.

No one would be expecting a theft, and they didn't have any blaster powerful enough to take down a ship. Even if they did, she doubted they would fire on her.

It wasn't an elegant plan. It wasn't deftly talking her way off planet. It wasn't anything that would leave her any sympathy among the rebels. But she didn't care. She needed off this planet, and she needed to get Armitage out of whatever trouble he had made for himself.


	18. Offworld

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New year. I say this fairly often, but I have shenanigans planned for next week, so buckle up for that (if you remember Ep.9, you know when scene is getting real close)

Hangar bay eight was crawling with rushed technicians, irritated officers, and scrambling stormtroopers. General Hux watched the scene unfold from an observation room, set high on the bay's interior wall. Through the transparisteel wall he could count the arriving transports.

One short of what they had sent out, he idly noted that transport A-29 had been lost. Irritatingly, he had been relegated to writing the intake report for Kylo Ren's mission to Pasaana's surface. He wasn't carefully taking detailed notes, already having decided that the rest of the supreme council were going to get the bare minimum of what he was required to give them.

As the fighters finished their return, Hux was left to note that Ren had predictably destroyed his. Even more predictably, he had failed his mission and wasn't accompanied by the scavenger he and the emperor were both mindlessly obsessed with.

Hux let the other man's misery be some silver lining for him.

 _Stars know I need it,_ he harshly thought to himself.

General Pryde had brown nosed his way into Kylo Ren's good graces, even more so than usual, and had secured himself a promotion to allegiant general as a result. Hux tried not to be bitter over the other man's promotion. It seemed like such a small thing in the face of all the other terrible events he had suffered.

But, some part of him couldn't let go of the fact that leading all of the First Order's forces had been his singular goal in life. From the first moment he was capable of his own thoughts, he had wanted power. If being supreme leader wasn't his destiny, then being grand marshal or allegiant general should have been.

Hux ticked away at the computer as he tried to remind himself that this wasn't his First Order any more. That the only thing he had ever known was gone, and that Kylo Ren and his cultists were to blame.

But answering to Pryde still grated at him. Knowing that he was subservient to more than just Kylo Ren's homicidal impulses was another insult, nearly lost in the thousands of other insults he'd suffered.

Hux watched the hangar bay begin to clear. The supreme leader himself stepped out of one of the battered ships. He seemed just as irritated as usual, though he did spare a fraction of a second to glare towards the observation deck.

 _Yes, I'm up here and I'm irritated. You're scowling at me won't make it any worse._ Hux only let himself think so freely because of the distance between him and the supreme leader. And because he was fairly certain that the other man was intent on pouting alone in his quarters.

The general's assumption proved true enough as he was left to watch Ren storm out of the hangar, workers and assorted crew parting to clear his path. Shortly after the supreme leader disappeared from view, Hux's comm chimed. Ignoring the irritating sound, Hux turned back to his report.

Though he was sorely tempted to include Ren's bad mood in his intake report, Hux thought better of it before looking back to the hangar. As he did, he was left to watch a second group leave the transport.

Several stormtroopers formed a circle around a chained alien. Covered in hair and nearly two and a half meters tall, Hux recognized Chewbacca even from half a hangar away. The troopers around the wookiee seemed even more uncomfortable than their prisoner, being noticeably weary of the massive hairy alien. Chewbacca's occasional guttural howls and growls could be heard even through the transparasteel wall.

Hux debated whether or not to include the appearance of the notorious rebel in his report. His deciding was interrupted by another rhythmic chime from his comm. Purposefully ignoring it, he watched the group in the hangar below.

The wookiee was notoriously violent, to the point that Hux was sure that even half a dozen troopers would have trouble containing him. He doubted anything would come of it, but he did enjoy entertaining the possibility that the wookiee might find a way to escape and cause some havoc before he was captured again or shot.

 _It would be a shame if Chewbacca found a way to get loose on the bridge. Allegiant General Pryde would be so embarrassed by such a thing,_ Hux dryly thought to himself before his comm chimed yet again.

Grumbling and finally looking towards the irritating sound, Hux pulled the device from his pocket. It was an active call rather than a typed message.

"What?" he answered the thing just as the prisoner group on the floor below stalled.

"Typically, an officer answers when his comm is being pinged." General Pryde's voice came from the little machine.

_Because today wasn't already bad enough,_

"Yes, allegiant general. My mistake."

"Yes, it was." Pryde didn't resist the chance to focus on the failure, "Now. Supreme Leader Ren contacted the bridge and said I was to report to hangar bay six. That there was important business to attend to there. You're to keep everything as it appears until I arrive."

Being ordered about like a lowly private caused Hux's hairs to stand on edge, but he said nothing for the offence. "Yes, sir."

Despite his apparent need to give a lesson on etiquette, Pryde cut the call on the comm without a word.

Grumbling to himself, Hux turned to the intercom with a series of harsh comments at the tip of his tongue. Instead of voicing any of them, he simply addressed the group of troopers.

"Prisoner transport group, stop there." General Hux's voice cracked over the intercom and echoed around the cavernous hangar, "General Pryde will be in shortly to inspect the creature."

Seeing the troopers stopped in place, Hux decided that he might as well meet Pryde in the hangar. As much as he hated to appear as the attentive aid, he hated the idea of Pryde publicly and embarrassingly commanding him down to the hangar floor.

In the time it took For Hux to navigate his way down a floor, he met Pryde at the doors to the hangar.

"General Hux," Pryde acknowledged him with a barely veiled contempt.

"General Pryde," Hux hoped that the allegiant general heard the same vitriol in his voice, "The mission to Pasaana has concluded. Under the command of the knights of Ren, we suffered losses. A transport was destroyed."

Pryde scoffed, knowing full well that this conversation was beneath him, "Is that all?"

"No, allegiant general." Hux answered with just as much casual disdain, "there was another transport in the desert. It brought back a valuable prisoner."

"A prisoner?" Pryde readied himself to defend against whatever game Hux thought he was playing by withholding detail.

With near perfect timing, a gargling groan echoed through the door. The durasteel dividers slid to the side just in time to let the tail end of the sound into the room at full volume. Hux took a special pleasure in seeing the Pryde's eyes go wide in concern before he was able to reign his featured back under control.

"This beast used to fly with Han Solo." He told Pryde a bit of information that he almost certainly already knew.

Just as Hux was beginning to grow used to the smug sense of superiority he'd been missing for months, an earsplitting roar came from less than a meter behind him. His hair flew forward, and he felt flecks of thick saliva hitting the back of his head.

Half worried that his passing idea of the wookiee attacking might come true, and that he might be at the top of the wookiee's list of targets, Hux was stunned while Pryde issued a fresh order to the troopers.

"Take it to interrogation six."

The troopers, thoroughly confused by the ordeal, shuffled and began to move their prisoner once again. Hux didn't turn to watch them, still trying to hold on to an air of authority despite his disheveled state.

Just as disdainful as he had been a moment ago, he spoke to the younger general, "Is that all, General Hux?"

Dejected, but not surprised, Hux was left to reply, "Yes, sir."

.***.***.***.***.

"Loh!" Ardis reached for the brightly colored flower that Lori held in one hand.

"Flower." Lori moved the blue blossom, "say, flower."

The infant grumbled and impatiently reached for the spindly bloom once again. Lori only half focused on the child, most of her attention set on the sky and the main section of camp.

Lori had been lingering at the edge of camp for half an hour. For a split second there had been a rash of commotion and she had nearly sprung into action then, only to find out that the rebels were just reacting to an update on the hunt for the wayfinder.

Rey and her accomplices had barely survived their journey to Pasaana, with the mission being such an ordeal that Chewbacca hadn't survived. A wave of mourning had crossed over the camp at the news of Chebacca's passing but Lori was less concerned with the wookiee, and more interested in the rebel's next destination.

They were bound for Kijimi, and Lori was sure that the First Order wouldn't be far behind them. If those transports showed up soon, she could probably meet the _Finalizer_ just above the snowy planet.

 _And then what_? Lori had found herself thinking through a series of worst-case scenarios ever since escaping Ajan Kloss had become a possibility.

Lori doubted that life would just go back to normal once she arrived. There had been plenty of chatter about the changes to the First Order, and Lori was sure that Kylo Ren's reign had to have done something to take away Armitage's prestige and power. And if the emperor really was running the order now, there was no telling how unstable things might be. It wasn't unknown for the old man to occasionally purge his detractors from the imperial navy, and Lori imagined that it would only be a matter of time until Hux attracted the emperor's ire.

And, she wouldn't stake her life on it, but Lori was almost convinced that Armitage was the spy. If her suspicions were correct, then he probably wouldn't be left alive for much longer. She had been able to tell it was him simply by reading the occasional report. While she was sure that the others within the First Order didn't know him half as well as she did, Lori feared that -given enough time- anyone might start to recognize his tone.

"Ow!" Ardis shouted, jolting Lori's attention away from the camp and her troubled thoughts.

Looking down and worrying that Ardis might have hurt herself, Lori instead found the infant still reaching for the flower

"Ow!" she shouted at the blue plant.

Exhaling a breath of relief, Lori realized that Ardis was just missing the majority of the word flower. "Flower. Flow-er."

"Ow?"

"Close enough." Lori grumbled to herself before handing Ardis the flower.

She shrieked with delight as she was given the soft blossom. At the same time, a whirring that turned into the rumble of engines came from the sky.

Lori immediately looked up to find five distant dots growing closer. Arranged in a loose circle, it became more clear that they were the small freighters that Lori had been waiting for. Careful not to look too excited, Lori watched as they touched down.

She had chosen the right spot. As the ramps began to lower, the other rebels began to crowd around the opposite end of the landing clearing, towards the center of camp.

Not expecting any thievery or attack, the ships had landed in the same loose circle they had flown in, with each of their ramps lowering in random directions. Lori was intently watching, waiting for their crews and the other rebels to begin unloading so that she could slip onto a ship unseen.

Then a voice came from behind her.

"Lori? What are you doing back here?" Mitaka's confused voice left her to quickly look over her shoulder.

He looked like all of the others in the camp. Finally having found a proper eye patch and with his hair grown out and messily tied back, no one would ever guess that the young man was once an officer in the First Order.

Divided loyalties or not, Lori knew that he wouldn't do anything to alert the others in camp to her plan, "We're getting off this planet."

Mitaka had guessed as much, but now that a chance had finally come to them, he found himself hesitating. They had been with the rebels for nearly a year now. Despite their suspicions, they had treated him, Lori, and Ardis with a reasonable amount of kindness. Far more than the First Order would have done in reversed circumstances. And Finn had saved their lives, Mitaka felt that he did owe the former trooper for that at least.

Lori saw Mitaka be taken aback at her comment. Now wasn't the time to stop and talk him into coming along. She made one quick comment before scooping up Ardis and hurrying towards the nearest lowered ramp.

"Come with me, or don't. Your choice."

The former lieutenant was at a loss for words, even as he watched Lori quickly pick her way behind workers who were preoccupied by their armloads of cargo. She had already managed to step foot on a loading ramp before a thin panic overtook Mitaka and made him hurry along in her footsteps. He wasn't deftly moving just at the edge of the workers' moving blind spots as Lori had, so much as he was quickly sprinting across a crowded field and just hoping not to be seen.

When he did reach the same ship that Lori had just disappeared into, he tried to take in every detail of the thing at once. Searching for Lori, he held onto a thin hope that he could talk her out of doing something brash.

Lori had already hurried to the cockpit, and was sitting in the pilot's seat doing as much of a systems check as she possibly could without actually igniting the engines.

"Lori!" Mitaka shouted in a whisper, despite the fact that no one would be able to hear them from outside the ship.

"We're leaving." She wasn't about to waste time for a debate. Mitaka hadn't done her any wrong so far, but if he decided that he was going to stand between her and Armitage, then she would gladly get rid of him.

Having flown through the systems check, Lori let her hand hover over the ignition. Kaydel and one other person had stepped into the cargo bay, and she was waiting for them to reappear outside before taking off.

"Perhaps we could reconsider?" Mitaka urged.

He was made even more quiet by the sounds coming from the cargo bay. Lori said nothing in return but did spare a glance to Ardis, who was still happily yanking at the colorful petals of her blue flower.

The voices in the cargo hold drifted away after far too long of a time. Lori waited at the edge of the pilot's seat, waiting for the workers to leave the ship.

"Lori, please. I don't think this is a good idea." Mitaka craned his neck to see outside, as if doing so would help him in some way.

"Think what is a good idea?" A third voice came from the hall just behind the cockpit.

Mitaka jumped with a yelp of surprise. Lori twisted around in her seat to find Brixie.

"Uhh… W-we can explain!" Mitaka started with the most suspicious comment possible.

With her plan already coming apart at the seams, Lori took a second quick look outside. Finding Kaydel and the crew member outside and weighed down with cargo, she wordlessly toggled on the ignition and rushed into an unsteady takeoff.

The ship lurched to the side, off balance from its lowered ramp. Brixie and Mitaka both struggled to stay on their feet, while Ardis shrieked in excitement at the unexpected sensation. Quickly raising into the air, Lori didn't mind the surprised and shouting dots that were people in the increasingly distant clearing.

An alarm blared, and Lori reached for the loading ramps remote controls as they gained altitude. Just as the siren stopped and the bay door closed, Brixie regained her footing.

"What's going on!?" she demanded, more confused than angry for now.

"I-it's a long story… we ha-have a good reason." Mitaka sputtered and tried his best to defuse the situation.

Holding Ardis with one hand, Lori yanked upward on the yolk, sending the freighter into the stars at a dangerously steep angle. Already off balance, Brixie and Mitaka tumbled backwards over the severely tilted ground.

Lori spared her grip on the yolk to shut and lock the cockpit door. With that done, she returned to the ship's controls.

Hearing the occasional shout or knock on the door, she didn't relax until they had breached the atmosphere and made a jump to lightspeed.

Finally allowing herself the luxury of a deep breath, Lori deflated in the seat as the distant stars stretched into blue white streaks around her.

Ardis reached up towards the brilliant blue streaks, grasping at them just as she had with her now torn flower, "Ow!"

Trying to ignore the inevitable and delicate conversation she would need to have with Brixie, Lori ran a gentle hand over Ardis' hair, "Hyperspace."

The infant looked over at her mom before gesturing back out of the viewport, "Ow."

Lori reached for Ardis before pulling her close to her chest. Taken off balance, Ardis looked away from the flashing blue-white lights and up at her mother.

"Close enough," Lori said, mostly for her own sake, as she looked back down at her baby.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux had followed Pryde back to the bridge. While Pryde did outrank him, the very idea of leaving the other man in control of his ship left Hux with an uncomfortable weight in his stomach. Much to Hux's chagrin, Admiral Griss had wandered to the bridge as well.

Just old enough to have served as an officer in the imperial navy, Griss had a respectable record in the First Order. Hux's personal dislike of the man came from his relatively strong relationship with Pryde. Griss seemed to agree with Pryde on every contested topic that the First Order had ever been faced with. Whether that agreement was out of some personal bond, or simply because Griss was looking for an ally with more sway then him, Hux didn't know or care.

Now he was faced with the both of them, issuing orders to his crew on the bridge of his ship. They had been quietly talking, just below what Hux could hear over the hum of the ship's engines. Whenever he drifted closer to listen in, the other two men would grow quiet, or very obviously change topics.

Even the crew seemed to be excluding him from the real goings-on of the ship. A few reports had drifted in and they all went directly to Pryde, who decided that Hux shouldn't concern himself with the new information.

 _Does he know?_ Hux had gone back and forth with questioning whether Pryde knew he was the spy, _He doesn't. He would have said something if he did._

_But what if he's looking for proof? Oh, he doesn't need any proof. The crew answers to him now._

_Then again, if he-_

The heavy door to the bridge hissed open. At once annoyed and then thankful that the sudden sound had shaken him away from his thoughts, Hux watched as Kylo Ren crossed the room.

"General Pryde, report." The supreme leader demanded.

Pryde immediately abandoned his conversation with Griss, "There's been a report, sir. The knights of Ren have tracked the scavenger."

Before Ren had time to demand more information, Griss added on, "To a settlement called Kijimi."

Hux glanced at a navigational screen. Kijimi was only a sector away, less than two hours off at lightspeed. He didn't even consider alerting the resistance that the First Order had picked up their trail. The _Finalizer_ would arrive just as quickly as the news.

Not one to be left out of the conversation, Hux put his own two cents in, "Shall we destroy the city, supreme-"

Kylo Ren didn't wait for him to finish before hurrying off the bridge, an order to set course for Kijimi being the only thing he left in his wake.

Fuming at the obvious disrespect, Hux bit his tongue as he was left to watch Pryde and Griss ready his ship for the jump to lightspeed.


	19. The Spy

Lori didn't want to open the cockpit door.

But she wanted to leave Mitaka alone with Brixie even less. There was no telling what the nervous former lieutenant might say in a moment of panic, and Lori would rather not have to deal with it.

Double checking the autopilot, Lori made sure that their path to Kijimi was clear before scooping up Ardis and turning to the door.

When it slid to the side with a groan, Lori was left to face an empty room. The freighters weren't too large, but they did have a dedicated crew compartment for longer flights.

Taking a short journey down a hall, Lori came upon the other two passengers in a rear break room.

Brixie sat at a small table, holding a pack of ice to the side of her head. Mitaka stood opposite the table, and was half way through a stuttered and contradictory explanation of what he thought was going on.

Mitaka stopped speaking as soon as he saw Lori step into the doorway. The sudden stop and obvious flicker of surprise over his features left Brixie to shuffle around and look towards the door.

"Lori," Brixie adjusted the ice pack, "what's going on?"

"Sorry, Brixie." Lori had been thinking through the exact lie she was going to tell the medic. She wasn't sure how long it would fool the other woman; it didn't need to work for long, just until she reached Armitage. After that she would have to go back to improvising. "I know this doesn't look good, and I'm really sorry. But I just had to get off of Ajan Kloss."

"So you stole a ship?" That question was the closest thing to an accusation that Lori had ever heard from Brixie.

At the sound of it, Lori shot a sharp look toward Mitaka. He startled slightly, ready to defend himself. He might be nervous and more than a little afraid, but he hadn't told Brixie anything about Lori's true motives.

Sure that whatever Mitaka had to say wouldn't be helpful, Lori spoke before he got the chance, "Well… Yes. But I feel bad about it. Look, Brix, Ajan Kloss isn't safe. Poe wasn't going to let me leave, and I don't think anyone else would have either. If we fail and the emperor wins, then he's going to find them, and he won't give them the chance to escape.

Though the possibility weighed heavily on everyone's mind, no one dared mention that the resistance might fail. Even speaking the words aloud made the possibility seem too real, and hearing Lori say it now made Brixie shirk back. Still, she tried to cling to a small thread of hope as she said, "the emperor isn't going to win. We'll stop him, we have to."

"We don't know that," Lori pushed back, "and I can't risk Ardis' life on that big of a gamble. If everything turns out fine, I'll go back and apologize. But until I know it's going to be okay, I'm not going anywhere near the Resistance."

These worries were the same ones that Lori had shared with her months ago, and Brixie understood where Lori was coming from. The need to keep Ardis safe was a reasonable one, and Brixie knew that she would feel something similar if she were in Lori's place.

But stealing a ship like this still felt wrong.

"I… Fine. But we will go back, and you'll have a lot of explaining to do."

Lori knew she was making promises she had no intention of keeping. For the first time in a long time, she did genuinely regret her lies. Brixie had been a genuine friend, and part of Lori almost thought that she deserved the truth.

"Thank you. And I'll make it up, I swear."

"Uh-huh." Brixie moved the ice pack before feeling the small welt on her head. She'd gotten pretty banged up from when Lori took the ship out of the atmosphere. While the damage wasn't severe, it was tender to the touch, "What are we doing in the meantime?"

Lori shrugged, as if she were speaking off the cuff, "Staying in space. I don't want to be on any planet if Palpatine's troops come rolling in."

Brixie still flinched at hearing the possibility voiced aloud, "I guess. But as soon as it looks clear, we need to go back to Ajan Kloss."

"We will," Lori reassured her before using Brixie's small wound as a convenient excuse to chance the topic, "is there anything I can get you for your head?"

"No, I'm fine." The medic waved Lori away, "if it's a concussion, it's a minor one. I just need a little rest and I should be fine."

"Okay. We'll get out of your hair then." Lori spoke for herself and for Mitaka, "If you need anything, just holler for us."

"Will do." Brixie slowly rose to standing before turning for one of the bunks in an adjacent room.

As the medic left, Lori looked to Mitaka and gestured towards the hall with a small nod of the head. Getting the message, Mitaka left for the cockpit. Not long after, Lori joined him.

"What did you tell her?" Lori didn't waste time on a soft lead-in to the conversation.

"N-nothing. Er… Nothing of value," Mitaka was quick to reply, "She asked what was going on, so I played dumb."

Lori watched the lieutenant's body language as he spoke. She didn't think that he was lying, and Brixie hadn't reacted in a way that would suggest that she knew Lori's real motives.

"What were your exact words?" She pressed, knowing that she shouldn't contradict his story.

"All I said was that I saw you sneak aboard this ship, and that I followed you to try and figure out what was going on. Of course, she saw me run onto the ship, and followed me for the same reason."

"Was that all?"

"Yes," Mitaka assured her, "Of course. I'm almost afraid to ask, but… do we have a plan? Past this, I mean. Motive for mentioning it aside, you're not wrong in pointing out that Palpatine is dangerous. Are you sure that returning to the-"

Lori held up a hand for him to stop, "Look. I'm making it up as I go at this point. You go do whatever you want, just stay out of my way."

While Mitaka wasn't calmed by Lori's words, he was reasonably sure that she wouldn't go out of her way to put him in danger, "Alright, alright. I won't ask where we're going, though I suspect I already know the answer."

Lori didn't appreciate the little bit of a spine that the lieutenant was growing, but she knew he wouldn't do anything to contradict her story. Not that it really mattered as this point. Letting the younger man wander off on his own volition, Lori set Ardis down in the co-pilot's seat. Slumping into the pilots seat herself, Lori looked to the navigation screen.

It wouldn't be long until they reached Kijimi.

It wouldn't be long until this was all over. One way or another.

.***.***.***.***.

The _Finalizer_ had been hovering above Kijimi for less than two hours when the ship went on high alert.

While that should have been shocking news, it didn't even rattle General Hux. The entire order seemed to be coming apart at the seams as Palpatine's deadline drew near, there was no reason to believe that their security was somehow doing a better job at keeping it together than any other department.

Luckily, the disturbance was short lived. Scarcely fifteen minutes after the first alarm had sounded, a second alert had been sent out to the ship's personnel: Two notorious rebels had been apprehended in the prison wards. Due to suspicions about a third intruder, the ship would remain on high alert until a comprehensive search had been completed.

With Pryde and Griss still commanding the bridge, Hux had been left with nothing official to do during the alert. And now that it was mostly over, he'd been sent off like an errand boy. Fairly certain that the intruders had come in search of Chewbacca, Pryde sent Hux to deal with the situation. The wookiee was technically under Hux's supervision, and Pryde decided that overseeing his and the two other rebel's executions was a job so simple that not even Hux could screw it up.

Well aware that he was being relegated to a minor task that Pryde thought he was too good for, Hux stood with his back to the doorway.

The interrogation wards seemed so much more sinister than he remembered, with their black durasteel walls and harsh white lighting. Hux wondered how long it would be before he would end up trapped in one of these rooms.

The rebels who were about to die seemed unconcerned with their fate. Bickering about some trivial matter that Hux didn't bother listening to.

The general wasn't worried for their lives. What were they to him? If anything besides long standing obstacles to his life's plans.

 _They're a nuisance, is what they are. A traitorous stormtrooper and his pathetic pilot friend. Their narrow escape over Jakku caused all of this. All of this, including the attack on the_ Supremacy.

Hux watched the stormtroopers train their blasters on the rebel's backs.

_They took everything from me. All of it. Every single blasted thing in the damned galaxy. Lori and Ardis would still be alive if it weren't for them._

"Actually," So caught up in his own thoughts, Hux felt removed from his own words, "I'd like to do this myself."

Taken off guard, the troopers looked between each other. Ultimately following orders, the sergeant handed his blaster to Hux.

The machine felt heavy in his hands. It had been years since he'd had to shoot anyone.

 _They take, and they take. And they destroy everything they touch._ He watched as the rebels squabbled amongst themselves.

The display filled him with contempt. Seeing such a flippant disregard from the people that had ruined him filled Hux with a blinding rage. Everything he had ever held dear was gone. Destroyed, either in the blink of an eye or after months of deteriorating away into nothing. And here these rebels were, chattering away like they weren't at all concerned with the blaster aimed at their backs.

It had been years since Hux had shot anyone, and he decided he might as well start again by killing those that had wronged him the most.

Hux's cause had abandoned him, had turned into the same chaotic squall that it had been created to destroy. Years of his life, gone to the First Order. This ship was supposed to be his. These troopers were supposed to be loyal to him. He had been on the verge of creating an empire and in a blink, it had been stollen. Everything had. He had toiled away day and night for the First Order, and it had betrayed him.

Which is why he shot the troopers in their backs.

A thin and barely coherent thought rolled through Hux's head as the armored bodies hit the floor. _I'm already done. I may as well let the rebels ruin Kylo Ren's life too._

The rebels very suddenly went silent, only to turn around with heavy looks of confusion. Alone in what might very quickly turn into a dangerous situation, Hux watched Poe's eyes flick down to the now unguarded blaster by one of the dead trooper's side.

But Hux doubted that the rebels would shoot, not after he had saved their miserable little lives. Knowing that they couldn't linger there for much longer, lest they be discovered, Hux let himself have a hint of some vindictive pleasure at their confusion as he announced, "I'm the spy."

"What!?" Poe looked up from the weapons on the floor, immediately taken off guard by the situation.

"You?!" Finn had seen many strange and unbelievable things, but even he wasn't willing to accept this turn of events.

Enjoying the power he didn't really have, Hux uttered a short comment before turning to leave the room, "We don't have much time."

The rebels looked to each other before scooping up the dead guards' blasters and hurrying along after the general.

"I knew it," Poe looked to Finn and tried to pretend that he wasn't taken completely off guard.

Finn didn't fall for the act, "No, you didn't."

Poe looked back, this time saying nothing as the group turned down twisting halls. He knew nothing about the layout of the large First Order ship, and for a moment he suspected that Hux might be leading them into another trap.

Finn was equally as shocked and distrusting of the turn of events, but he knew enough about the _Finalizer_ to recognize that they were heading towards the hangars. In a pleasant surprise, he even spotted BB-8 lurking down a side hall as they neared the end of their journey.

"BB-8, come on!" Finn yelled in a whisper down the side hall.

Hux tried not to jump at the unexpected voice and overly loud whirring of a BB unit. He tried not to consider the full ramifications of what he was doing either. Part of him still wanted to shoot the rebels. They couldn't begin to understand how much they had cost him.

 _But I can't bring my family back, can I? My life is gone, and these idiots might be my only hope at destroying Ren and Palpatine_.

The group came to a halt at one of the observation decks, overlooking one of the ship's many hangars. Made abandoned by the search for the one rebel that was still on the loose, Hux was met with no resistance as he approached a control terminal.

"I'll shut down the impeders. You've got seconds." He told the men around him as he worked.

While he toiled away at his only hope to foil Ren's plans, a commotion came from the bay below. The white clad scavenger ran through a hail of blaster fire, quickly followed by a squadron of troopers and Kylo Ren himself.

Hux shirked back slightly, hiding himself from view as Poe made a far too calm comment, "There she is. She's a survivor."

The rebels were a second away from taking their leave before Hux made a final request, "Wait. Wait. Blast me in the arm. Quickly!"

Even more confused by the general's odd behavior, Finn and Poe both gave him a questioning look.

"What?" Finn even asked for clarification.

Bracing himself, Hux tapped an arm before grumbling a shortened explanation, "Or they'll know I helped you."

There was a chance that he had just been spotted by one of the troopers below. He could claim that he had been taken hostage by the invaders, but the story wouldn't be believable if they just let him go without a struggle.

Finn looked at Poe before turning back to the general.

He had wanted to shoot the First Order's commanders for a very long time now. And as much as he personally hated Hux, Finn almost felt bad for how strung out the other man looked.

But that little bit of guilt didn't stop him from shooting the general in the leg.

Hux crumbled in on himself. He thought he'd been mentally prepared, but the searing pain of plasma ripping through his leg and grazing the bone tore a choked scream from his throat. Grasping at the agonizing wound, Hux barely noticed that Finn was asking him another question.

"Why are you helping us?" He asked, blaster leveled at Hux in case he didn't like the answer.

Hux fought to reign his ragged breathing under control. Even when he was half certain the rebels might still shoot him dead, he didn't hesitate as he spat out a venomous explanation, "I don't care if you win. I need Kylo Ren to lose."


	20. The Bridge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is okay out there.

Something was wrong.

Lori let her stolen freighter drift into hangar bay fourteen. Little more than a turbolift away from the administration area, bay fourteen housed more shuttles than fighters or bombers. As a result, it was less heavily guarded as well. Though, there should have been someone on duty in the seemingly abandoned hangar.

Already on edge from the fact that the impeders were down, Lori felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge as she sat the freighter down in an unoccupied spot.

_Was there a systems overload? Are the engines failing? I didn't see any smoke, but something had to have interrupted the impeder systems._

Trying to leave the concern behind, Lori began to debate what to do with the ship. Knowing full well that the unfamiliar thing would be boarded by the first set of stormtroopers to pass the hanger, Lori wondered if she could trust Mitaka enough not to do anything stupid.

Brixie was still napping in the back room. Lori didn't know what fate might meet the medic in the next hour. The strange tension on the _Finalizer_ made her worry for her own wellbeing too.

Ardis was asleep as well, nestled in the co-pilot's seat. After tearing her jungle flower to shreds she had lasted an hour or so before settling down. Trying and failing to find some solace in how relaxed the infant was, Lori cast yet another worried glance out of the view port. There still weren't troopers, and Lori knew that the longer she stalled, the more likely they were to appear.

Hoping that she was making the right decision, Lori silently stepped out of the cockpit. Just a step away from the small room, she found Mitaka waiting for her in the hall.

"Have we landed?" He asked in a hush.

Lori nodded, "and something's not right. Stay in the freighter until I come back."

Mitaka blinked at the unexpected command. He felt an apprehension about returning to the ship he called home, but he hadn't voiced it. To hear Lori acting in a way that was in line with his own concerns set him even more on edge.

Trying not to think too hard about what message Mitaka had taken from her apprehension, Lori picked her way to the cargo hold. The ramp groaned as it lowered, and for a moment Lori strained to listen for the sounds of either Brixie or Ardis waking up.

Upon hearing neither, she slowly made her way down the ramp and hurried across the hanger.

Though she had been away for nearly a year and a half, the halls of the _Finalizer_ were just as familiar as the day she left. Sure as she was that she could navigate the twisting halls without once losing her way, Lori knew that she would be shot on sight by a passing patrol. On a normal day, the First Order didn't take kindly to intruders on their ship, and something in the air made Lori think that the crew might be especially on edge.

Cursing the fact that the detour would only slow her down, Lori took a hard left to one of the many laundry rooms on the ship. Slipping back into a major's uniform would take her no time at all, but Lori feared that just a few seconds might cost her dearly.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux tried not to twitch as a stinging antiseptic landed against the fresh wound on his leg. He'd been in the med-bay for not but five minutes before Pryde had ordered him to the bridge.

He had half a mind to ignore General Pryde's order, and remain for a full treatment instead. But, Hux suspected that he already looked suspicious, and refusing a direct summons to the bridge would be an easy way of confirming whatever it was that Pryde thought he knew.

Glancing at the working medical droid and then to the cane that had been fished out of a supply closet, Hux bit down an annoyed sigh. He didn't like the idea of hobbling to the bridge like a beaten down servant boy. Cursing the rebels, General Pryde, and any other thing that happened to cross his mind, he reached for the cane.

As he began to move, the medical droid tried to stop him, "Sir, I have yet to administer a bacta treatment to the-"

"Just wrap it. I haven't got all day." Hux cut the droid off.

If the thing could have looked dejected, it would have. Instead, the droid simply did as it was told, its base programming deciding that debating its patient might do more harm than delaying a proper treatment would.

By the time Hux had picked up the cane the droid had finished hastily wrapping a stark white bandage over his leg. A little bit of blood seeped from the wound where the droid had cut away burned sections of skin. From it grew a dull red spot that stood out against the white cloth.

Wishing that he had worn his coat so that he could have something to hide the obvious wound from view, Hux slowly stood. Grimacing with each step, he leaned heavily on his cane as he stiffly walked to the bridge.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori nervously searched for a chrono as she tried not to rush down the halls. Each second that ticked by was nothing more than another opportunity for someone to stumble across the freighter in hangar bay fourteen.

She would have been more than happy to send a contingent of troopers down to secure the ship herself, with strict orders that no one aboard be harmed in the process. The only thing stopping her was the fact that the ship had been set on high alert. The disconnect between the ship's orders -given directly by Kylo Ren, if the chatter in the halls was to be believed- and the reality that it was very easy to sneak aboard, left Lori to wonder just how much had changed since she left.

While it seemed as if everything had changed, Lori was sure that she would find Armitage in one of two places. The bridge was a short way off, and between it and her lie the executive offices. Hoping for a private reunion, and because it was closer besides, Lori quickly made her way to Armitage's office.

As she traveled, the halls began to slowly come to life. Turning from the nearly abandoned things, occasionally traveled by a patrol of stormtroopers, to a quietly bustling area filled with flustered aids hurrying to and fro.

Coming to the familiar location, Lori stalled to see if anyone was watching. Realizing that the gesture was more from force of habit than for any practical reason, Lori quickly stepped into the office.

As the door shut behind her, Lori's first realization was that she was alone.

The second thing she noticed was the state of the office.

Normally pristine to the point where it would be hard to tell that it was in use at all, the room was in a state of ruin. The desk was cluttered with unpowered and obviously abandoned data pads. A mess of bottles sat piled on the ground, some whole and some broken from where they had fallen off the desk. Code cylinders littered the room, dropped and most likely forgotten the second they hit the floor.

Fighting a sinking feeling that tugged heavily at her guts, Lori numbly walked through the room. Hoping that the office had been reassigned, a few of her more closely held fears were shaken loose as she came to a stop at the desk.

Through the assorted clutter, the broken data chips, and a busted blaster, Lori found the holodisk form Bastion. Trying not to let her hand shake, Lori picked the thing up. To a crushing lack of surprise, she found her own heavily blurred features and a bundle of blankets that was Ardis in the hologram.

 _What did he do to himself?_ Lori let the pained question roll through her mind as she tucked the disk into an interior pocket. Turning away from the ruined desk, Lori stifled a shuttered breath. The state of the room left her close to accepting a terrible possibility about Armitage's actions towards the First Order.

Armitage's heavy long coat hung by a hook near the door. The planet below was dark and covered in ice. Lori took the coat being here as a promise that Armitage was at least still on the ship.

 _He must be on the bridge; I have to be getting close._ Lori tried to calm herself as she made to leave the room.

But, just as she reached for the control panel, she stalled.

_Damn it Armie, this office is leaving me with a bad feeling. I've been hoping I was just being paranoid, but you went and did something you can't take back. Didn't you?_

Lori looked back to the room, and then at the heavy coat that Armitage was so fond of. Bogged down by her impossible to ignore suspicions, Lori fished through it's pockets in search of a functioning code cylinder. If she was wrong, she could apologize to Armitage later. But if she was right then they might need a general's code cylinder during their escape.

.***.***.***.***.

The door to the bridge slid to the side with its characteristic whoosh. Hux would have liked to enter with a confident stride, but an awkward and stiff walk was the best he could manage with his unfamiliar cane.

General Pryde faced the viewport, dotted lights from the city below punctuating the otherwise dark horizon. Admiral Griss was nowhere in sight.

 _Probably sent off to more personally command my crew_ , Hux bitterly thought as he came to a stop in the center of the officers walk.

"Explain to me what happened." Pryde commanded, without turning to face Hux.

Armitage adjusted his weight on the cane, partially because he wasn't used to needing the support and also to hide the apprehension that came with his next words. He'd thought about what he might need to do in order to save his life, but he had hoped that he would have more time to mentally prepare than the half hour or so that had passed since the rebels fled.

"It was a coordinated incursion, allegiant general." He lied, "They overpowered the guards and forced me to take them to their ship."

Hux watched Pryde shift his stance, as if he were balancing the truthfulness of what he had just been told. Trying not to hold his breath, Hux fought to keep his expression neutral as Pryde dropped some tension from his shoulders.

"I see," the older man spoke towards the viewport before making a tiny turn of his head towards a nearby lieutenant, "Get me the supreme leader."

The younger officer didn't have a clue about the tension that lingered in the air, "Yes, sir."

The lieutenant turned to scurry off the bridge, their small movement catching the attention of the rest of the people in the room. In the fraction of a second where the room wasn't intent on Pryde's back, the older man made a quick movement towards a stormtrooper.

There wasn't enough time for a gasp of surprise to ripple through the bridge. The trooper didn't even think to react as his weapon was pulled from his belt. Though he was dulled with age, Pryde had spent many years behind a blaster, and his aim hadn't deteriorated.

Hux didn't have time to do anything beyond feel his eyes go wide, and his mouth open for a shout before he landed with a heavy thud on the floor of the bridge.

A heavy thud shook the ground, it's echo just audible below those of the blaster. The lieutenant skidded to a stop. All eyes went from the floor to the allegiant general, a slight trickle of smoke wafting up from the barrel of the blaster in his hand.

He spoke a continuation of his order to the lieutenant, though his gaze was locked on Hux's unmoving body, "Tell him that we found our spy."

.***.***.***.***.

The walk from Armitage's office to the bridge felt miles longer than Lori remembered. Debating with herself, desperately trying to think that everything was still okay, she was numb to the other officers in the hall.

_He didn't. He wouldn't be so reckless. He doesn't know about Ardis or me, the First Order is the only thing he thinks he has left. He wouldn't._

Lori didn't believe her own thoughts, having already decided that Armitage had been the one leaking information to the Resistance.

 _You better have covered your tracks._ Lori began thinking down the path they would have to take to get out of the situation. _You were planning on running? Right? He has to have a backup plan. He always has a backup plan_.

She rounded the second to last corner between her and the bridge.

_Ok, breathe. Armie's got to be on the bridge. Whatever is going on here is going to have to wait. It's been a year. What do I even say? What can I say?_

A slight collision with another person in the hall shook Lori away from her thoughts. A flustered lieutenant mumbled something that could have been "Sorry, ma'am" before hurrying away, their eyes wide and with a far-off stare.

Lori watched them leave, the lack of protocol on Armitage's ship being just another warning sign that something was terribly wrong.

Trying and failing not to read into the strange happenings, she quickened her pace as she rounded the final corner to the bridge. The double doors that would lead to the familiar room were less than forty feet away. Trying and barely succeeding in preventing herself from breaking out into a worried run, Lori approached the doors.

The heavy things whooshed open as she neared them.

The scene that greeted Lori brought her to a sharp and sudden stop.

The bridge seemed shocked into slow movements, barely reacting to the sudden opening of the doors. Lori didn't mind the stunned crew, as a sickening rush of adrenaline and fear distracted her from the rest of the room.

Armitage lay unmoving on the ground.

Hardly able to tear her gaze away from the terrible sight, Lori was only able to look up after she heard a vaguely familiar voice speaking from the center of the room.

General Pryde stood in what was normally Armitage's spot. Dull gray eyes looked down at Lori. Without a hint of recognition or concern he issued Lori a single, callous, command, "You there, dispose of the traitor's body."


	21. Please

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday and welcome back. It's been quite a ride so far. With last chapter this series passed the quarter million word mark, and Wednesday marks the 1-year anniversary since I posted the Prologue. Thank you for sticking around for that long, whether you just read through what all was posted or if you've been here since the beginning. More importantly, sorry for the cliff hanger & here's the story

AN: Happy Monday and welcome back. It's been quite a ride so far. With last chapter this series passed the quarter million word mark, and Wednesday marks the 1-year anniversary since I posted the Prologue. Thank you for sticking around for that long, whether you just read through what all was posted or if you've been here since the beginning. More importantly, sorry for the cliff hanger & here's the story

.***.***.***.***.

For a long and terrible second, Lori couldn't move.

Of all the things she expected to return to, Armitage's unmoving body sprawled across the floor of the bridge wasn't one. The details of the room escaped her completely, as her sight was locked in place. The bridge could have been howling with commotion, and she never would have heard it over the blood rushing in her ears and her own thundering pulse.

She had asked him not to do anything dangerous. She'd begged for the first time in her life that he would be careful, that he would stop it with his near brushes with death. And here he was, a fresh wound at the center of his chest.

Lori didn't know when she had taken a step, but she was suddenly looking straight down at Armitage. He had a bandage on is leg, slightly stained by some wound that he must not have had treated. Lori only distantly noticed it because of how much the white cloth stood out against his black uniform. She would have disregarded the inconsequential thing completely if she hadn't noticed the small red stain on the cloth slowly growing.

 _He's still bleeding_. Her thoughts were made sluggish by the shocking scene.

Lori's mind was slowly coming to terms with what she saw. She'd seen enough corpses in her time to know that they bleed slowly. And when they did, the blood flowed down, not up and through a bandage.

Biting a shuddering breath, she made herself look down at Armitage. The wound on his chest had been cauterized by the plasma he'd been shot with. She hoped that the burns might help more than hurt as she took a deep breath.

"Trooper," she called to one of the guards in the room, desperately trying not to let her voice crack, "Pick him up. You, get that cane. Follow me."

She directed a handful of stormtroopers as she forced down waves of nausea and fear and dread.

 _Keep it together. Keep it together!_ She all but yelled at herself as two white armored soldiers roughly pulled at Armitage.

Lori knew that she had been a professional liar for most of her life. If all those years had been for anything, then they had been practice for this moment. Crushing down panic. Holding back a confused and shocked reaction, Lori tried to pull her focus away from the careless troopers and came up with a plan.

If Armitage wasn't dead already, then he was seconds away it. Taking the troopers to the freighter was a non-option that led to far more problems that it created.

 _What do I do? What do I do!?_ Lori turned to the hall, the troopers following behind with Armitage awkwardly cradled between them. A third trotted along, having scooped the dropped cane off the floor.

 _Three armed guards. Can't fight them. Can't run._ Lori kept tally of her surroundings, the impossibility of the situation closing in around her like a noose around the neck.

"Follow me," she said to no one in particular, hoping that a walk would buy her time to come up with a plan.

 _There is no time!_ A single resounding thought cut the others away.

Her hand had begun to shake, Lori griped it into a fist that she hoped no one notice. As she ventured away from the bridge, they began to slowly encounter other officers in the hall. Most did a surprised double take before backing away, hurrying off, or muttering to any other nearby officer.

Lori could just make out the questions they whispered to each other.

"Is he dead?"

"How?"

Lori tried to shut them out. Tried to ignore their questioning looks, and tried even harder to not see a few looks of satisfaction that came from their thinking Armitage was dead. But they seemed to grow louder, bolder as she ventured further through the ship.

"…injured?

"Looks like it."

"…just come from the medical bay?"

Though she tried to keep their words at bay, one comment stuck out to her.

 _The med-bay. But the troopers…_ she tried to think of what to tell them as she finally decided on a destination.

"He should be put in a morgue." She said quietly, not really sure if she were thinking of the lie she would tell or trying to convince the troopers. Only barely realizing that she was speaking out loud, Lori tried to go on with some faked confidence, "the supreme leader might want to see the body. Follow along."

While there were small morgues tucked away in select med-bays, they were rarely used. Stormtroopers weren't given funerals, with their remains usually being lost in whatever battle took their lives. Officers were typically kept out of harm's way, being cloistered away on the bridge, or in interior rooms that were unlikely to be invaded.

The fact that they existed at all had easily slipped Lori's panic laden mind.

The troopers said nothing to the major's explanation. Thinking that nothing was wrong beyond the fact that Hux had been a spy, they were only concerned with returning to their positions before being able to end their work for the day.

To Lori, their journey to the nearest medical bay felt like it took years. When they did finally arrive, the two troopers carrying Armitage unceremoniously plopped him down on a mobile stretcher. The trooper with the cane sheepishly leaning it against a wall.

"You're dismissed." Lori tried not to wince at the heavy thud that came from Armitage's landing on the bed.

"Ma'am, should we fetch the mortician?" The lead trooper asked.

"I'll be handling that." Lori answer quickly. In part to get the conversation over, and in part because of her nerves. Knowing she looked rattled, Lori tried to smooth over the situation, "I'm the one tasked with seeing to the traitors body. I will make the arrangements from here. You're dismissed."

The troopers didn't need to be told again, being more than a little relieved that they weren't being asked to do even more work. Not in any particular rush, the three of them wandered from the room.

Lori tried not to stare as she watched them disappear around a corner. The door they had entered through was some ten feet out of view, and she listened intently for the characteristic whoosh of it opening and then shutting.

As soon as she did, she fervently twisted to face Armitage.

Planting one hand on his far shoulder, she shook him slightly while desperately feeling at his neck for a pulse.

"Armie, wake up. Please, please don't be-"

She could bring herself to finish the sentence, afraid that saying it might make the moment too real. Abandoning her failed attempt to wake him up, unsure if he was even still alive, Lori jerked her head up, searching the shelves for anything that might be useful.

Med kits were neatly stored away, ready to be grabbed in case of emergency. Yanking one off the shelves and flinging it open, Lori riffled through the thing. Bacta patches, stem packs. Antiseptic and burn kits, she knew there had to be something in there that might save him.

But she also knew she didn't have a clue how to use any of it.

Her hands had begun to shake to the point that she could barely read the label of the bottles she picked up. Though she only spent a second going through the little box, it felt like decades until she found an adrenaline stim.

Again reaching a shaking hand out, Lori couldn't find a pulse. Hoping that she was making the right decision, she didn't hesitate before slamming the stim down. The vial's exposed needle bit through layers of uniform before releasing its contents straight into Armitage's bloodstream.

For a sickeningly long second, nothing happened.

Suddenly, a sharp jerk snapped through Armitage's limp body. Tensing from the sudden influx of adrenaline, the muscles along his arms and legs pulled tight before going slack once again.

Seeing him move at least, Lori hoped that this might be enough to save him until he was truly safe.

Throwing the opened medical kit into the stretcher and then sweeping more off of a shelf and tossing them into the bed as well, Lori planned her next move.

 _The troopers are gone, we have to leave._ She only had a half idea of what to do as she pulled the stretcher from its place. The repulsorlifts on the side of the mobile bed protested, never having been activated before this point.

On her way out of the room, Lori tossed the cane into the bed as well, mostly for fear that someone might discover that she had brought Hux here, only to ransack the medical supplies and flee rather than taking him to the morgue.

Stepping into the hall, her pulse seemed to thunder with adrenaline. Impossibly, it felt as if her heart had stopped from sheer fright at the same time. The hall had been largely abandoned when she's traveled down it with the troopers. Now it was mercifully empty, though she didn't trust it to stay that way for long.

Trying her best to run while dragging the sluggish stretcher behind her, Lori tried to be quiet as she traveled to the nearest turbolift.

It was the same one that she had used to come up from the hangar. It must have been used in the short time she was away, because she had to wait for a torturous half minute before the doors whooshed open in front of her. In that time, she must have looked over her shoulder a thousand times. She must have checked for a pulse a hundred times, each of them to no avail.

Trying desperately to hold onto hope, Lori jumped at the sudden arrival of the lift before rushing inside. It was empty, for now.

Not wanting to take any chances at being discovered, she fished around her pocket for the code cylinder she had taken out of Armitage's coat. Clinging to the hope that no one had revoked his credentials yet, she jammed the thing into the turbolift's command panel before overriding its automated routing computer. In just a few short clicks, she insured that it wouldn't stop anywhere besides her destination.

Having a short moment away from the fear of being discovered, Lori once again turned to look at Armitage.

He seemed less deathly pale. She took it as a sign that he was alive enough for his blood to be flowing.

"Armie," she shook at a shoulder, "Please wake up. Please?" her last word came out choked, and all of the panic that she had just barely been holding back threatened to beat down the walls she had put up around it. "Please!?"

The lift slowed, a small mechanical beep signaling that the door was about to open.

Wiping at a tear that she hadn't even noticed come out, Lori shook herself before wrapping her hand around the side of the stretcher once again.

She was already moving as the door slid open.

The journey seemed longer than she remembered it, warped by her own twisting perceptions. After what could have been seconds or hours, Lori was only a turn away from the hangars entrance. Rounding a corner into a long hall, her turn towards the hangar made a T intersection with the path she was on.

Picking up speed, Lori barely controlled a wild flail to the side that came as an involuntary reaction from hearing the sounds of troopers from the opposite end of the hall. Pulse fluttering and mind not even considering the idea of stopping to explain her actions to the troopers, Lori tried to double her already quickened pace. Just as she came to the intersection, the first white-armored trooper stepped into the far side of the main hall.

Whipping around the corner as fast as the unwieldy stretcher would allow, Lori was just able to make out a startled gesture and more troopers coming around the corner.

Racing across the open hangar, Lori heard a garbled shout come from one of the troopers. Knowing that it must have been a command to stop, she urged herself to run on.

Half way to the freighter, a searing bolt of plasma whizzed past her and out of the magnetic field separating them from the void of space. Spurred on by a fresh wave of terror, Lori forced herself onward.

Reaching the freighter, she groaned at the effort it took to change the stretche's direction. Nearly taken off her feet by the unwieldy thing's momentum, Lori fought not to fall on her way up the loading ramp.

Another volley of blaster fire streaked through the hanger, one of the bolts hitting the side of the stretcher and destroying the repulsorlift there

"No!" Lori heard herself saying before yanking the machine upward.

Now just barley crawling over the freighter floor, Lori scrambled to her feet, wild eyes just registering the fact that Mitaka stood in the dim ship, Ardis clinging to his leg.

"What in-"

"Get us out of here!" she shouted through the hail of blaster fire; her hand already slammed down on the ramp controls.

The ship groaned as the metal ramp receded far too slowly. The former lieutenant seemed to move just as slowly to Lori, disappearing to the front of the ship just as the freighter's doors closed.

Ardis had been left behind, teetering to the side before softly falling over. Confused and shaken from the screaming and blaster fire, the infant began letting out her own distressed cries.

Torn between Ardis and Armitage, Lori desperately looked into the stretcher. Finding Armitage with no fresh wounds, Lori breathlessly forced her way off of the floor.

Scooping up a now shrieking and sobbing Ardis, Lori didn't have the words to try and comfort the child. Still shaking with fear and adrenaline, Lori nearly toppled over. A second after she had regained her footing, she realized that the ship had pitched to the side.

When the sudden shaking of the ground didn't end in a terrible explosion, Lori let herself assume that Mitaka had gotten them off the _Finalizer_.

Fearful for Armitage's fate, fearful that they might be blown out of the sky by a TIE, fearful for so many things, Lori scampered back to Armitage.

Ardis cried, gasping for breath between each of the confused shrieks. Lori knew that the infant had no way of understanding what had just happened. She knew that Ardis was only crying because of the confusion around her.

She knew that the little girl would be fine.

She didn't know if she could say the same for Armitage.

Mind racing just as quickly as her pulse, Lori fought to quell her sputtering thoughts into something coherent.

She hadn't succeeded before everything came clattering to a halt.

A tired and confused voice came from behind Lori, barely audible beneath Ardis' slowly dampening cries.

"Lori?" Brixie spoke from the doorway to the rest of the freighter, "Wha… what's that?"

The room was dim. So caught in the commotion of their escape, neither Lori not Mitaka had clicked the lights on. The only light to see by came from behind Brixie, casting her stretched shadow into the room and across the middle of the stretcher.

Lori felt her face grow warm. Whether from tears, fear, or adrenaline, she had no idea. The storage room seemed to twist and distort around her as she heard Brixie walk across the room.

"What…" the medic's voice was more confused than anything. Unsure of anything, most of all unsure about what she was seeing, Brixie stood just behind Lori.

A man in black laid on a broken stretcher that overflowed with medical supplies. One bandaged wound on the leg, one fresh wound to the chest. Seeing the thing set all of Brixie's instincts on edge. The sudden need to move, to help the injured man made her ignore the uniform. Searching for more wounds, she got a good look at his face.

Her need to help was dashed as suddenly as it had appeared.

Lori hadn't turned to look at Brixie.

"Save him," Left empty from the drain of all the adrenaline that had pulled her through the day, Lori was hoarse as she fought to speak above a whisper, "Please. I-I'll explain later. Just…"

The medic looked up from her would-be patient. Lori was in a First Order uniform, just like the one she'd worn during her escape from the _Supremacy_. Brixie couldn't see her face, and was instead left to look at Ardis.

Clutching at her mother's shoulder, the infant's face was just visible in the crook of Lori's neck. Features just as red as her hair from the crying fit that was only just beginning to pass, Ardis sniffled and grasped for a better hold on Lori. Something heavy grew in the pit of Brixie's stomach as she looked between the infant, the man, and Lori's back.

The moment felt like it lasted forever before Lori shuddered, "Brixie, please."

Choosing to stay confused, Brixie took a step closer. Looking away from Ardis, she was left to stare down at one of the most infamous men in the galaxy.

Brixie's hands shook, her mind abuzz with questions and teetering on a deadly realization. Confused, nearly angry, and desperately trying not to listen to the urgent thoughts at the edge of her mind, the medic knelt at the side of the stretcher.

General Hux. The mad man that tore Hosnian Prime out of the sky. The ruthless tyrant that had chased the Resistance from D'Qar and nearly destroyed it on Crait. He'd firebombed planets, tortured prisoners, and subjugated entire civilizations when they didn't bow to the First Order.

He was a man that deserved nothing but the worst.

He was a man that would certainly die without Brixie's help.

At a loss for words, trying not to gasp for breath, Lori though she might collapse from the stress of the day as she watched Brixie's head dip in resignation.

The man before her was a monster, but Brixie couldn't just sit back and watch him die, "Turn on the light. I can't work in the dark."


	22. Truth and Consequence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello & welcome back. Sorry that this chapter is kind of short, but I've been pretty distracted lately. I should be able to keep to my regular update schedule though. As always, please enjoy.

Lori had slumped down in the hall just outside of the cargo bay. She'd been sitting against the wall for the better part of an hour without sight of Brixie or word from Mitaka. For most of that hour Lori had been drifting between listening for any changes in the cargo bay, and trying to calm Ardis.

Speaking to the infant was mostly for Lori's benefit, as Ardis had quickly moved on from her confused crying.

Now the little girl was standing next to Lori, her hands planted firmly on her mother's shoulder for support.

"Ma?" Ardis looked to Lori with wide eyes. More confused by the day than anything, the infant had no understanding of what was happening just a room away from where she stood. The world was still a new thing, and seeing her mother tense and on the verge of tears left Ardis as agitated as a one-year-old could be.

Limbs feeling heavy, Lori had to force herself to move as she twisted to the side and reached out to pull the infant closer to her.

"It's alright. It's all going to be alright." Lori pulled Ardis into a hug, half way pulling the child into her lap in the process.

Lori's words were for herself, and she wasn't sure if she believed them.

 _Armie could be dead in that room_ , she sourly thought to herself before holding Ardis tighter and looking away from the door to the cargo bay, _Stop that. Stop thinking like that! Brixie might hate him, but she'll save him._

The bitter reality that Brixie had walked into wasn't lost on Lori. She knew very well that if she were betrayed in the same way and put into the same situation as the medic, she would probably let Armitage die.

 _But Brixie isn't you,_ Lori tried telling herself, _she'll help. She'll-_

Ardis began to wiggle and try and shake out from under her mother's grasp, pulling Lori away from her thoughts.

Lori didn't catch Ardis' next almost-word as the door to the cargo bay suddenly whooshed open. Jumping at the motion, Lori stood and scooped Ardis from her place on the floor just as Brixie stepped out of the other room.

The medic stopped in the doorway, wordlessly looking between Ardis and Lori. Any trace of tears that had been on Ardis' features were gone, with the infant being bright eyed and perfectly unaware of anything that had just happened. Lori, on the other hand, had a red tenge to her features that Brixie knew she would never acknowledge.

Though she'd had an hour, Lori didn't have a word say in her own defense. There were too many unknowns to plan around, and she had been busy fearing for the worst besides. Brixie's silence only served to set Lori more on edge. As much as she searched for some hint as to what happened to Armitage on the medic's features, Lori only found the face of an increasingly betrayed friend.

Brixie thought she knew Lori. They'd been in hiding together for over a year. Lori had sheltered her crew, and she'd saved Lori's life more than once. Brixie had been one of the only people that Lori had spoken to about Ardis' father. As impossible as it seemed, as sickening as the very idea of it was, Brixie had just spent an hour in the same room as General Hux, and he had begun to look very familiar.

"Explain." The medic uttered a single word, trying all the while to tell herself that Lori wasn't worried for the reason she suspected.

"Brix, I-I know this is weird." Lori sputtered for a moment, knowing that Brixie knew, "This looks bad. And I'll tell you everything, but is he…"

Lori tried shuffling through her own thoughts, looking for some way to spin this scenario. No matter where her mind went in search of a way out from under Brixie's suspicions, Lori was still distracted by the need to know if Armitage was still alive.

Teetering on the edge of being enraged, Brixie still felt a small part of herself feel absolutely terrible for her obviously upset friend. She wished that she didn't feel so upset at her good news, "He's alive."

Lori suddenly felt fifty pounds lighter. The relief didn't last long as she looked back to Brixie, "Thank you. You don't know what this means to me."

"I think I do," Brixie couldn't contain her suspicions any more, and the closest thing to a harsh edge that she was capable of coated her words, "Lori, you've been lying to me. A lot. I have some pretty bad ideas about what all of this means, and I don't want any of them to be true, but…"

"Brixie," Lori tried to calm the medic. Mostly to buy time while she figured out what to say.

"No! Tell me right now what's going on! You just kidnapped or rescued General Hux, why?! Why is he shot? Why does Ardis look exactly like him?! How many lies have you been telling me?"

It had been a long time since any of Lori's carefully crafted stories had come crumbling down so thoroughly.

"Whoa, slow down! Hey! I'm sorry, okay?" she searched for a way out of the conversation, but couldn't find one that wouldn't just make her look worse, "It wasn't supposed to end like this. I'm sorry I ever got involved with y'all on Bastion. I'm sorry I lied, but what else was I supposed to do? Dak showed up to my house with a bunch of mercenaries working with the Resistance, what would they have done if they knew from the very start?"

Brixie took Lori's words as the closest thing to an admission that Ardis was hers and Hux's as she was going to get, "Nothing? We're not murderers."

"Lex had a blaster to my back the first time I met him." Lori was quick to point out, "and there's a lot of terrible things besides death."

"But… but you acted like you wanted to help! You made me start sending you updates on our activity. What were you planning?!"

As bad as the situation had gotten, Lori wasn't about to admit that she had personally been responsible for ferreting out and revealing Resistance sympathizers within the First Order.

"I was worried that you might come back to Bastion." She lied, "You treated me as well as you could, you really did, but I couldn't risk running into you again."

Despite being angry and on guard, Brixie didn't catch Lori's small deception. Instead, she was focused on the large lies of the past, "but you told me… you told me that Ardis' father was dead! You told me that he had been a good person! You can't believe any of that. Right? Right?!"

Lori had never believed in Hux's vision of a galaxy reigned in beneath the First Order, but he had certainly thought he was doing what was best. Lori thought that the twisted optimism had been one of his more endearing features, and she hadn't necessarily been lying when she told Brixie the things she thought about Armitage.

But all that nuance seemed inappropriate for the moment, "It's complicated."

"He destroyed a planet!" Brixie shouted in rebuttal.

"I know!" Lori shouted back, causing a small whimper and nearly starting a fresh bout of crying from Ardis in the process. Deeply aware of the infant, Lori patted the little girl on the back before going on more quietly, "I know."

"Why? How?" Brixie was half way between being stuck on her last question, and desperately wanting to ask others, "He's evil, and you know it. How did this even happen?"

As the conversation groaned on, Lori slowly regained control over her thoughts. Years of practice in deception left her with a few ideas of what to say. Though her potential lies might save the relationship she had built with Brixie, none of them could redeem Armitage.

Brixie misread Lori's lack of a reply. Head spinning with too many horrible realizations to process, she was still searching for some way to believe that her friend hadn't been her enemy all along, "He forced you into this, didn't he?"

"Brixie."

"He did."

Lori bit her tongue; _I could just say yes. It would end this conversation._

The moment grew long while Lori considered her options. As she did, she was left to watch Brixie grow more convinced that she was right.

Lori had walked in and out of dozens of rebel cells. Each time, she had happily betrayed or turned her back on them the instant it became convenient. She had lied mercilessly to get her way, never once hesitating to tell the rebels whatever it was that they needed to hear. Letting Brixie believe her own lie would have been the easiest and most convenient thing in the galaxy.

But Lori was tired.

Profoundly tired. Worn down by the past year of persistent deception, torn apart from the inside out by the constant stress of being found out. She'd nearly retreated into a sense of self-loathing that cut her off from everyone around her. She'd wanted nothing more than the life she had gotten so close to having.

And now it was within her grasp.

Lying to Brixie now might preserve her own reputation, but Lori couldn't bare the idea of how she might have to act towards Armitage to maintain the illusion. She wouldn't leave his side while he lay at the edge of death, and she wouldn't turn her back on him when he woke up.

Exhausted, Lori didn't have the energy left to curse her luck. She'd been forced into the truth. Reality was a bitter thing, and it wasn't lost on Lori that her final betrayal to the rebels hurt her as well.

"No, Brixie." Lori had to fight to keep her voice level, at once almost shouting and hardly managing to speak above a whisper, "No. I chose this."

Brixie looked to Lori, the red tinge at the edge of her eyes threatening to spill over and coat the rest of her features.

Lori went on, "He didn't force me into anything. I know what I did. I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

A sudden and poorly hidden jolt shook through Brixie as she bit down a sob. Just a second after it passed, she began to shake her head. Slowly at first, and the with a persistent fervor. As if it would make everything disappear, she clamped her eyes shut before opening them to look squarely at the ground.

Lori let Brixie have her moment, knowing that there was no truth she could bring that wouldn't make the situation worse.

Meaning but failing to mutter a refusal of what Lori said, Brixie took a staggered step past her former friend.

Ardis stirred slightly, silence being a sudden distraction from what had been a shouted conversation. Lori didn't follow the infant's gaze as Ardis watched Brixie stiffly walk and then run down the hall.

What felt like a long time passed between the medic's footsteps disappearing behind a shutting door and Lori shifting her hold on Ardis so that she could look the infant in the eyes.

Swallowing down a mess of emotion and thought that she didn't even begin to try and name, Lori suppressed a shutter as she spoke to her daughter, "Let's go see how dad's doing."


	23. Lights

A groaning and near silent gasp was the first thing that Armitage was aware of as he drifted back to consciousness. A painfully bright light came from somewhere above him. He wasn't sure what the source of it might be, the bridge was usually kept dark so that it was easy to see out of the viewport.

The glaring thing didn't seem to be dampened by the fact that his eyes were only half open.

A dull and distant pain came from the inside of Armitage's chest. Only after he had felt his torso throbbing in time with his weak pulse, did Armitage remember what happened.

 _Ah. Right. I've been shot_. He sluggishly realized. The faded pain from the wound and the nonresponsive weight of his limbs left him with one quiet thought, _So, this is how it ends. I expected this to hurt more._

A ragged breath barely traced its way down his throat. He stifled a weak cough as the air hit his aching lungs. Along with it, he heard a garbled sound.

Somewhere beneath it all, a slight pressure came from his shoulder. It left him, only to reappear as a warm touch along his jaw. The unfocused shape that was the room around him blurred for a moment, leaving him disorientated and unable to realize that the sensation had been someone moving his head to the side.

The strange sound returned, this time twisting into a recognizable voice.

"Armie. Armie? Wake up, I'm here. We're here."

_Lori._

Armitage's eyes creaked open ever so slightly. Still unbearable, the light slowed his progress. As he began to see more clearly, Armitage was just able to make out a figure leaning over him. Silhouetted by the artificial lights, their features were cast in deep shadows.

The figure said something else. Armitage didn't catch their words, eyes beginning to adjust.

When they finally did, he was greeted with a hazy but recognizable face.

_What a fine dying thought._

Reality hadn't sunken in for Armitage. Still believing himself to be on the floor of the _Finalizer_ 's bridge, he couldn't imagine that Lori was anything other than a final pleasant vision created as a desperate comfort by a failing body for a broken man.

He would have drifted back into an uneasy unconsciousness with that assumption, if something strange and persistent hadn't begun batting at his face.

Ardis hadn't left Lori's side. With the stretcher deactivated and fallen to the ground, she was more than tall enough lean over its side and reach for the unfamiliar man laying at its center.

So focused on Armitage, Lori hadn't noticed that the infant had been peering into the bed as well. Taken off guard by Ardis' sudden tapping at her father, Lori had a second of indecision where she was unsure of whether or not to let Armitage's head limply roll back to where it had been.

Curious and not at all understanding the situation, Ardis persistently reached forward.

Her little hand drew close to Armitage's eyes. Reacting off of pure instinct, he clamped them shut. Only to open them after he heard a surprised squeak that was Ardis rearing back at the sudden movement.

Lori put a hand down to catch the ready-to-topple infant.

Armitage found a small wave of energy from the sudden movements.

Still aching and unable to move or breath deeply, his vision drifted fully into focus.

_Lori?_

She leaned over him, one hand firmly held against the side of his face, the other propping up a small child with bright red hair.

_Ardis?_

Confused beyond belief, relieved and at once afraid that his pleasant dying hallucination was about to twist away in a cruel final moment, Armitage tried to gasp out a quickened and desperate comment.

"Yo-" he opened his mouth and only managed half a word before a fiery hot pain came from the fresh wound across his chest.

"Hey, hey. Calm down." Lori did her best to stabilize Ardis before leaning forward and trying to hold Armitage steady, "It's okay. You're okay."

She sounded breathless. In some way as wounded as he was and at the same time as real as anything.

"Just breathe. Slowly," she spoke in carefully measured words, "You got hit in the chest. The plasma missed your heart, but not by much."

He didn't care what state he was in. As far as Armitage was concerned, Lori and Ardis had come back from the dead.

Only because he was sure that speaking would leave him unable to focus, Armitage bit down a series of frantic comments. Instead, he desperately looked back and forth between Lori and Ardis, not wanting to look away from Lori out of fear that she might not be there when he looked back, but needing to look at Ardis and how much she had changed.

The infant was nearly a toddler now. Well over two feet tall, the child had shirked back from the side of the stretcher and was now firmly clinging to her mother's side.

Something pained and relieved coated Lori's voice as she spoke to Ardis, "Come on, it's ok. Say hi to dad now."

Ardis curled her hands into tight fists as she gripped Lori. The silence had been confusing to the little girl. Though no one was shouting, she could sense a strange tension in the air. Unsure of whether her mom was on the verge of tears from fear or relief, and even more disturbed by the unfamiliar and wounded man that lay before her, the child pulled closer to her mother.

Ripped apart by the unsurprising realization that Ardis did not recognize Armitage, Lori struggled to keep her voice level as she turned back to Armitage, "I'm so sorry we couldn't get back to you sooner. We've been stuck with the rebels since Crait. I tried to contact you… I tried…"

Lori debated how much to tell Armitage about where they were right now. She would have liked to have someone to lean on, especially now that she was sure that it was only a matter of time before Brixie did something to make her displeasure known. But Armitage was barely conscious and gravely wounded, and Lori couldn't let herself give him a reason to be stressed.

"We're here now," she didn't give voice to her swirling thoughts, "That's all that matters. You're okay, and we're okay."

As much as she wanted to be calm and level, Lori's words waivered as she reassured Armitage. She couldn't help but let her sight linger on the bright white bandage that stood out against Armitage's pale chest.

Brixie had cut away his undershirt to get at the wound. It was deep thing that had burned all the way through to his back, Lori wasn't sure if Brixie had put any medicines on the exit wound. Whatever the medic had done, it had saved Armitage's life. It had only done that, in fact. Unable to see through the single clean patch that sat over the hole in Armitage's chest, Lori was sure that Brixie had only done what was required to keep Armitage alive.

Mind abuzz in a way that was too fast for his tired body to keep up with, Armitage had trouble settling on a single coherent thought. Groaning, he tried lifting a heavy hand and reaching towards Lori and Ardis. Just as he began to move, a sharp jolt of pain crossed his chest and ended at his shoulder.

Reflexively tensing and dropping his arm so that it lay across his stomach, Armitage tried not to feel guilty over the sudden worry that coated Lori's features.

Lori winced at seeing Armitage in pain, "Shh… shh… You can rest easy. We're not leaving your side."

"You're…" He croaked out a single word at a time, barely able to speak above a whisper from the lack of breath and pain that came with a deep inhale, "You're both…"

Sure that Ardis was stable, Lori curled her hand against the side of Armitage's face once more, "We're alive."

Armitage let himself unwind against the reassuring warmth of Lori's hand. He'd been wishing for something like this for months. Slowly crumbling, losing his mind piece by piece, he'd lost all hope of a reunion.

He'd thought that life was over. Suddenly finding his family unharmed felt like escaping the clutches of death itself.

"H-how?" speaking small words sent fire like bursts of pain through his body, but Armitage clung to them as another sign that he was still alive. That this moment was real. That Lori and Ardis were real.

Lori saw poorly concealed tenses and shivers cut through Armitage's body whenever he spoke. Knowing that he would try to talk in spite of them, she made her answer long, and tried not to say anything that would raise more questions that it would answer, "Those mercenaries that stayed with me on Bastion were on Crait. I told them that I escaped the _Supremacy_ , and they took me in again. The rebels went into hiding, and I couldn't get away. I tried, I'm so sorry. I tried, but I couldn't get away. Not until just the other day. I knew you would be on Kijimi, and I got the chance to steal this ship.

"Long story short, I snuck back onto the _Finalizer_. We can talk more details later, but I walked onto the bridge right after Pryde…"

 _Right after the old bastard shot me?_ Armitage thought the end to what Lori was saying. The details of the day and how he gotten here were slowly coming back to him. The initial shock of finding his whole life suddenly worth living again hadn't worn off, but some of the initial confusion from waking up after what he thought should have been his death was.

"Lori…" Speaking was still painful beyond belief, but Armitage had too many questions, too many pressing thoughts that couldn't be ignored.

 _How did you know where to find me? How did you steal this ship? Are the rebels hunting us? Who's piloting? How has Ardis faired during all of this? Are you hurt? How did we escape the_ Finalizer _?_

Lori saw him brace before speaking, but cut him off, "We can tell each other everything later. But first, I want you back in one piece."

_But-_

Armitage's quick thought was dashed as he noticed a small movement from Lori's side.

Ardis turned her head and body so that she faced the downed stretcher once again. The tension had lifted slightly, and her curiosity got the better of her.

Seeing Armitage quickly shift his gaze so that he looked at her, Ardis jumped slightly at the fact that she had been noticed.

Feeling the infant tense more than anything, Lori looked down at Ardis.

"Go on now, it's okay," she tried to be reassuring at her daughter's second approach towards Armitage.

Less concerned with her mother's reassurance, and more compelled by her own insatiable curiosity, Ardis teetered forward. As a moment passed where nothing strange or new happened, the little girl grew more bold and once again reached out towards the unfamiliar man.

Both Lori and Armitage watched the little girl stumble a step before catching herself on the edge of the stretcher. Barely keeping herself upright, Ardis tentatively reached out for Armitage once again.

Lori and Armitage watched the child. Lori worried that Ardis might accidently poke Armitage in the eye again, but she couldn't bring herself to do anything that might interrupt the moment. Armitage watched as the infant slowly came closer.

He had dreamed about how his daughter might look. When Lori had been hidden away on Bastion, he'd spent long hours wondering how the little girl might act and how quickly she would grow. After he'd resigned himself to the mercifully incorrect belief that they had died, those ideas and questions had turned into painful what-ifs. They'd become thoughts that only served to punish him for imagining that he could ever have something to be happy about.

But now, Ardis was here, standing beside him with Lori watching over the both of them.

It still hurt to speak, but the pain of the moment was nothing compared to what he had suffered over the past year.

Armitage tried not to groan as he spoke, "Hello."

"Low?" Ardis parroted back half the word with a few confused blinks and a small tilt of the head.

Taking that as close to a greeting that he would get from the infant, Armitage let himself relax a fraction. As much as he wanted to know where they were, as much as he wanted to speak to Lori about everything that had happened in their year apart, as much as he wanted to hold his daughter and to hug Lori, as much as he wanted to live in a moment where he was finally at peace, he was still teetering on the edge of consciousness. He had still been shot through the chest, and he was left barely alive for it.

Lori watched a deep fatigue cross over Armitage's features, and it was no secret to her that he was desperately trying to stay awake.

The sight of him alive and speaking with their child was one to behold, and Lori would have loved for it never to end. But, she wanted more moments like this one, and she knew that to get them Armitage needed to rest.

Telling him as much was painful, but she leaned forward, shifting her weight so that she could still cradle Armitage's head with one hand.

"She's a chatter box," Lori tried to give a light joke before going on, "But you should rest up now, I can see you fighting it. We'll be here when you wake up, I promise."

Ardis patted the side of the bed as Lori spoke. Not out of an understanding, but because it was strangely firm compared to the makeshift beds she was used to.

Armitage wanted nothing more than to stay in the moment, but the adrenaline from waking had already faded.

Lori saw him struggling, and leaned down to put a gently kiss on Armitage's forehead, "Go on now, it's okay. We're here."

She had barely back away before he drifted back into a restful sleep.


	24. A New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, just a heads up, there will not be a new chapter on Monday (the 25th). I've been pretty far behind writing wise, and I've had to really rush out the last couple of chapters. In the meant time, here's a somewhat longer than average chapter. See y'all next Thursday (Updates will continue as usual after next week).

Mitaka hadn't seen another person in nearly two days.

He'd only left the cockpit a handful of times, either to sneak into the crew compartment to quickly grab food from the kitchenette, or to slip down the hall to the nearest fresher. Every time he'd gone into the crew area, he'd found one of the bedroom doors firmly shut. Whether it contained Lori, or Brixie, or even the general, he wasn't sure.

He wasn't sure of anything at this point. Nearly a day ago there had been an emergency transmission, broadcasted over every comms frequency he'd turned to.

The short and frantic thing had been a rallying cry, a call for a defiant last stand against the First Order on Exagol.

He'd ignored it and begun traveling in the opposite direction.

They were somewhere near the edge of Hutt space now. The deathly silence of space was almost as grating as the silence on the ship. Mitaka hadn't seen another ship pass by him since the transmission. Not a pirate, nor transport, nor even Hutt security had come within a lightyear of the stolen freighter.

Mitaka didn't dare to transmit any messages. Whatever had happened, Mitaka was sure that he didn't want to be boarded. He didn't have a final destination in mind either, as a result he had let the ship drift at sub-light speeds for the last day.

Staring into the void, Mitaka tried to distract himself from the difficult situation he'd found himself in.

The freighter had only been unloaded half way when Lori took it. Since there were only four people on board, they had enough supplies on the ship to last them for weeks, if not months. There was enough room for everyone to keep to themselves.

 _For now_ , Mitaka found himself sourly thinking, _It's only a matter of time until-_

As if in time with his thoughts, a harsh and sudden whoosh came from the cockpit door.

Violently jumping in his seat at the unexpected sound, Mitaka barely avoided hitting the many buttons and levers that sat within easy reach of the pilot's seat.

Pulse thundering as he turned, he was met with relief when he found Brixie in the doorway rather than Lori or the general.

"Brixie," he breathed, in part to assure himself that it was just her, "I wasn't expecting you."

The medic had spent a long time thinking of what she was going to say to the supposedly-former First Order lieutenant. She didn't think for a second that Mitaka didn't know about Lori. She'd come to demand an explanation, knowing full well that she couldn't look Lori in the eye anymore.

Brixie's hand balled into a fist, at once angry with herself while still betrayed and in pain. She knew that Mitaka had been First Order, and she'd defended him to the rest of the Resistance.

She had saved his life too, and he'd repaid her with the same lies that Lori had.

"Err… Brixie?" Mitaka spoke again, set even more on edge by the uncharacteristic silence.

He knew what was upsetting her. He would have to be a fool to think that she just blindly accepted General Hux's presence. What he wasn't sure of, was how much she knew. The general had arrived with a deadly wound, Mitaka assumed that Brixie had been called on to save him. He assumed that Lori and Brixie had a difficult conversation. He assumed that they hadn't spoken since.

"You knew." She barely managed a general accusation.

Already shirking away from the conversation, Mitaka tried to look anywhere other than at Brixie.

She took that as an admission of guilt, "You did. You knew about Lori, and Ardis, and…"

_Ah, so she knows everything._

"I-it's a long story…" Mitaka tried to stall while he found a way out of the conversation.

Brixie stood firm in the doorway, "We've got time."

"I d-don't think I should be talking about this. It's err… Very, very co-complicated." He wasn't lying. He feared what Hux or Lori might do to him far more than what Brixie would. And, he knew that the truth wouldn't paint him in a flattering light either.

At this point, all Mitaka wanted was to have a quiet life living under whatever government had claimed the galaxy. Whether that meant eking out some semblance of stability under a chaotic republic or living under the heel of an authoritarian empire, he didn't much care. What he didn't want was to return to any sort of life that brought him into the path of overly ambitious leaders.

"If you don't say anything, I'm going to assume the worst." Brixie tried to goad him on.

 _Oh, I don't think you can imagine anything worse than being Hux's personal aid_.

Left with silence, Brixie talked on, "So, you knew about all of this. You were planning on double crossing us the entire time, weren't you? I'm surprised you haven't tried calling the First Order yet. Or maybe you did, and they just didn't come."

"I wouldn't-"

"You wouldn't? Really?! I'm supposed to believe that? Is that what Lori told you to say?"

Trying to back peddle, but finding that the truth might come in handy, Mitaka spoke quickly, "Sh-she said to shut up and play along, so I did! Th-that's it."

Brixie crossed her arms and didn't have to say that she didn't believe him.

"I didn't want t-to hurt anyone. All I wanted was to go home." He tried to clarify before realizing that it just made him sound worse. Trying to correct from that, he went on, "At first! Only at first. But you were all s-so nice, and the First Order did nearly shoot us. And Hux did bomb the planets that helped us. A-and, well… I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't just pull you or anyone else aside and tell them all of this. Lori would have killed me! And I don't think you would have believed me."

The end of Mitaka's comment cut deep.

Brixie wouldn't have believed him, and she knew it. She'd been completely and utterly convinced of Lori's lies, and even now that she was faced with the terrible truth, she was still looking for reasons not to believe it.

Mitaka watched something pained cross over Brixie's features. With so many possible triggers, he wasn't sure what exactly had caused it.

"I'm sorry," He tried for a blanket apology, "R-really, I am."

All the sorrys in the world wouldn't change the fact that Brixie had been betrayed. As painful as it was, she still needed the truth, and one way or another she would get it out of Mitaka.

In the meantime, a sharp sting came from the edge of her eyes, and she bit her tongue in an effort to stop the tears.

Despite the underlying fear for his safety, Mitaka felt terrible for the lies they had told to the rebels. Brixie in particular had been nothing but kind to him, even when the other rebels had thought of him as a First Order member and nothing more.

He'd been alone. Fearful of Lori, and of the rebels. Trapped in a strange place that didn't want him. As time went on in the rebel camp. Mitaka came to realize that he had always been a man in the background. Always working day in and day out, climbing to the top of his small little pile, only to be disregarded by those that would always be above him. He'd done more than a few questionable things, mostly at the behest of those above him. Acting form himself was terrifying and strange, and oddly reassuring.

He was sorry, for many of the things he had done in life. He knew there was nothing he could do to erase the mistakes of the past, but he thought that he might at least try to make less mistakes in the future.

Mitaka knew the answer, but he asked anyway, "Are you okay?"

"No."

.***.***.***.***.

Lori had only left the cargo bay a handful of times in the last two days.

Besides the first time, Armitage had only woken up once or twice. Painfully weak from the partially healed wound in his chest, he'd spent most of his time drifting in and out of consciousness.

Though Lori was no doctor, she'd spent more than enough time treating non-fatal wounds. Replacing the bandage over Armitage's chest was simple enough. The bacta infused patch seemed to have worked well enough, with the top of the hole below being mostly healed. She had no idea how deep the medicine had seeped, but Armitage's breathing sounded less ragged with each passing hour.

Though the fact that Armitage was going to live had lifted Lori's spirits, she was still troubled by worries of what might happen next. She knew nothing of the galaxy outside of this ship. She knew nothing of the ship outside of this room.

She assumed that Mitaka was still in the pilot's seat, but for all she knew Brixie could have steered them straight back to Ajan Kloss and into the Resistance.

 _Assuming there still is a resistance_ , Lori found her thoughts drifting.

Armitage had leaked that report about Palpatine's supposed plans to take over. The stated time for that had come and gone yesterday. She couldn't help but wonder how it had all ended. Of course, the only real difference for them would be whether they were running away from X-Wings or TIEs.

Knowing that she didn't know enough to even begin to plan on what to do next, Lori turned to Ardis.

The little girl had been just as adventurous as ever, trying more than once to climb on the several boxes that lined the cargo bay. She'd gotten impossibly close to taking her first steps without needing something to hold onto for support. While Lori would have preferred for Armitage to be awake and back in once piece for the occasion, she was content enough just to have him around.

Ardis stood about ten feet away from Lori. She'd made occasional laps around the room, firmly gripping crates for support where she could, and then crawling past sections of wall where there was nothing to hold onto. Lori had held the infant up by her arms a few times, occasionally letting Ardis walk around the center of the room.

She was about to do so again before she was distracted by a slight but deliberate movement from Armitage.

Knowing that Ardis would put up a fuss if she were taken away from one of her adventures, Lori let the girl play as she knelt at the side of the stretcher.

Armitage didn't wake up to the same foggy world that he had found himself in two days ago. Still distantly aware of the deep ache that came from his chest, he wasn't floating in and out of consciousness like he had been.

This time when he woke up to find Lori peering down at him, he didn't have to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming.

"Morning," Lori told him.

"Is it?" Armitage asked, still short on breath.

"I don't actually know." Lori admitted, "but I'm glad you're awake."

Only a little groggy, Armitage did what he could to crane his neck around and get a look at the room. Though he had woken up a handful of times before, he hadn't held onto the details of what was around him. He knew that they were on a ship that Lori stole from the rebels. He knew that they were probably on the run from every namable power in the galaxy. He knew that there were other people on the ship: a rebel doctor and, somehow, Mitaka.

Anything beyond that, he hadn't retained.

The room around him was dingy. More than a little dirty and nearly filled to the brim with disorganized crates, he wondered how he hadn't picked up an infection. At the far edge of his vision, along the wall that ran above his head, he could just make out Ardis. At first taken off guard by the standing child, he immediately began to wonder how much he had missed.

"Can… can she walk?"

Lori looked to Ardis, and then back down to Armitage, "Not quite. How are you feeling?"

Fairly certain that he should stay laying down, but almost painfully tired of the position, Armitage struggled and grunted as he tried to sit up.

Lori was about to tell him to stop, but he had already forced himself halfway up, and making him lie back down would probably be just as difficult as helping him sit up. Putting a hand against his back and keeping the other one on his shoulder to hold him steady, Lori helped lean Armitage against the wall.

"Well, I don't think you're about to die anymore." Lori tried to calm herself by turning a relieved observation into a blasé comment.

"Lucky me." Armitage recognized the attempt and came back with an equally dry remark.

Lori gave him a small smile as a silent thank you for playing along.

"Speaking of near brushes with death," he shifted slightly against the wall, sure that he would never find a comfortable position, but trying for something less grating, "Tell me everything that happened. Did the rebels hurt you?"

She saw him wincing as he spoke, but she didn't point it out. Instead, Lori moved to sit next to Armitage, rubbing one of his hands in hers once she came to a comfortable position.

"No, they have no idea about us. Mitaka didn't say anything either. The only one that knows anything is the medic."

Armitage found some comfort in leaning against Lori, though he watched Ardis teetering along the crates as he spoke, "The mercenary from Bastion, you've mentioned her."

Lori hummed in acknowledgement, "yeah, I'm afraid she's taken this personally. She ran off to the crew quarters a couple of days ago, haven't seen her sense."

"It sounds like she's throwing a temper tantrum."

A sharp tinge of guilt cut at Lori, she tried not to say or do anything for it, "Could be. At least the only comms array is in the cockpit."

Though she hadn't said anything for it, Armitage heard a wounded edge on Lori's words. He had no sympathy for the rebels, but Lori seemed to care about the medic. For her sake, he made an effort not to be so dismissive.

"Yes, that is a good thing. How long have we been here? It was only a day later last time I was awake."

Lori was glad to know that Armitage had remembered at least a little of what she had told him, "Two days now, maybe a little longer."

Armitage tried to give a knowing hum, but the vibration sent a sore wave through his chest. Lori raised her free hand, worried but unsurprised at his sudden tensing.

"I don't know who won." Lori headed off Armitage's next question, "I figured I'd handle one problem at a time."

"There's always more than one problem," he recovered from a wince, "we need to make a plan."

For a brief second, Lori thought that Armitage might try to force himself to stand. When he didn't she was still sure that he was going to work himself back to near death.

"You're not doing anything besides sitting still and healing." Lori seldom tried to tell Armitage what to, but she was adamant about this.

Armitage heard that there was no room for negotiation. As much as he hated being told what he should and shouldn't be doing, he knew that Lori had his best interests at heart. He knew that she wouldn't try ordering him around unless she truly thought that it was the best thing for him.

Begrudgingly, Armitage took the deepest breath he was capable of. It was still shallow and he couldn't relax much as he said, "Very well. But that doesn't change the facts. We need a plan."

"I know," Lori admitted, "I'll think of something. I just got you back, I'll make damned sure nothing is going to separate us again."

Armitage heard his own thoughts spoken back to him. Having Lori's unflinching support at his side once again lifted his spirits just as much as seeing his daughter purposefully teetering around the edge of the room.

Still sore and nearly broken, Armitage slowly turned his head to face Lori. Leaning forward to place a soft kiss on the side of her face was a tremendous task, but he was more than happy to do it, "As will I."

Letting the moment linger, tried to pull herself closer to Armitage, careful not to push against him so hard that he was hurt or struggling to stay sitting up. Just as she finished adjusting to a more comfortable position, she felt a gentle pressure coming from Armitage's hand. First looking towards him, and then following his line of sight across the room, Lori was left to watch Ardis.

Ardis unsteadily shifted her weight away from the box she had just been using for support. Barely managing stand unaided, she held her arms in a half-raised position to try to gain some semblance of balance

Releasing tension that had been there for months, Lori beckoned to Ardis, "Come on."

The infant swayed as she looked up to her mother. Boldly taking an unsteady step forward, Ardis gave a high-pitched laugh and grew a broad smile at the new skill. Quickly growing overconfident, she took another step. This one too long and too quick, Ardis' knee buckled under the sudden motion, leaving her to quickly crumble to the floor and roll to the side.

Not registering that her attempt had ended in failure, Ardis giggled more as she turned the fall into an excuse to tumble and roll around on the floor.

For the first time in a long time, Ardis' laughter didn't feel like a reminder that she was missing something. Blissfully unburdened she turned to Armitage while their daughter played in the background, "She's working on it."


	25. Hutt Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and sorry for the missed day back there. As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Mitaka tried not to fidget in the pilot's seat. His conversation with Brixie had gone further than he had intended, with the medic ultimately prying out all the details that he knew about Lori and General Hux's relationship. He'd tried to be light on specifics, but as they talked it became increasingly clear that they had both been pawns. They'd both been kept in the dark and mislead.

Mitaka had begun to realize a long time ago that the First Order wasn't the perfect bastion on law and order that he'd been raised to think it was. Now he was left with no option other than to accept that troubling fact.

Brixie had been fighting tooth and nail to find a reason to forgive Lori, but learning that she had been a spy that preyed on hopeful rebels was too much. As much as she hated it, Brixie was left to accept that her friend had probably never been her friend at all.

The only thing that kept the two of them from steering the ship back to Ajan Kloss was the uncertain state of the galaxy. They still hadn't heard anything beyond that single call to action on Exegol.

Brixie had left to cockpit an hour ago, only leaving Mitaka to continue his work in the pilot's seat at his request. As much as he would have liked to take a break and sleep in an actual bed rather than the stiff pilot's seat, Mitaka didn't want to be away from the comms array.

He still didn't dare to send a transmission out, but he was flicking through the comms frequencies in search of a follow up message to the rallying cry.

After what felt like ages, he happened upon a live channel.

"The New Republic is back!" What sounded like an over-excited news program crackled over the comm. "Palpatine is dead again, hopefully for good. Transmitting from Deysum III, we're live with-"

The end of the enthusiastic voice was cut off by the whooshing of the cockpit door.

Jumping at the sound, Mitaka instinctually turned the comm to a dead channel with the swat of a hand. At first feeling silly for hiding the news like he was a child caught doing something bad, he quickly realized that Brixie had no reason to come back to the cockpit so soon after she had just left.

Mitaka braced himself as he swiveled the pilot's seat around to find Lori stepping into the room.

having heard a muffled section of the broadcast through the door, Lori wasn't surprised by Mitaka's jumpiness. She largely ignored it as she crossed the room to sit in the copilot's seat, she asked more than said, "So, they got the emperor. That mean what I think it means?"

Mitaka was sure that Lori was asking about the New Republic. Made paranoid by the thought that she might have spoken to Brixie again to learn what he had told the medic, Mitaka was slow to respond.

"Y-yes, ma'am." He slipped into the same inoffensive tone he had often used in his old life, when briefing superior officers on unpleasant news, "It's unclear how much territory they've claimed. I have no information on the remains of the First Order."

Lori heard how on edge Mitaka was. She suspected that something had happened while she was cloistered away in the cargo bay, but she wasn't sure exactly what. What she was sure of was the fact that Mitaka probably wasn't keen on rejoining the First Order, if that was even still an option.

Waiting for him to say something that would give her something to go off of, Lori silently set to work.

Mitaka watched as Lori checked the ship's diagnostics, noting the fuel levels and shield status in the process. Squirming in his seat, he tried to ignore her as she read through the ship's navigation logs. He thought he saw a tick of annoyance cross Lori's features as she came to the end of the log and learned that they were at the edge of Hutt space. She looked up from the aged computer screens in the cockpit and out through the viewport.

Hoping to break some tension in the room he offered a small reassurance, "I haven't seen another ship in days. We're alone out here."

Lori leaned forward, as if it would do something to help her see further into the darkened space just beyond the transparasteel, "You sure about that?"

_No. Not at all._

"Yes, ma'am." Mitaka answered instead.

A small but heavy sigh came from Lori. She had made an effort not to work with the Hutts, they had a reputation of being very demanding. Though she hadn't traveled through Hutt space herself, she knew many people who had. If there was one constant in all of their stories, it was that the Hutts' powers were absolute in their own territory, and no one went in or out of it without their knowledge.

Whether Mitaka had seen anyone or not, Lori was sure that they were being watched.

Noting the always nervous lieutenant, Lori slowly peeled herself away from looking out the viewport. Instead, she turned towards the ship's sensors.

"A-are you sure that's wise?" Mitaka hoped that she wasn't about to do a sweep of the area. If they did anything to search for other ships, then the other ships would be able to search for them as well.

Lori had just looked at the sensors to check when they had been turned on last. Having the same worry as Mitaka, she was relieved to find that the sensors had been left off since they left Ajan Kloss.

"I was just checking something. When's the last time you looked behind us?"

Doing so hadn't crossed Mitaka's mind. The space in front of the ship had been empty for so long and he'd been so focused on it, that he hadn't thought to check back the way they had come.

Lori suspected she knew what his answer was going to be from the long lack of a reply.

She had spent many a year traveling around in barely functioning scrap heaps. Thinking to manually check for things that would be caught by even a half functioning machine was second nature. Mitaka had grown up exclusively on large ships with entire staffs dedicated to observation and navigation.

Mitaka didn't look at Lori as he sheepishly turned the ship around.

For a short moment nothing but distant stars crossed the viewport.

Then, something brown and angular came into view.

The freighter drifted to a stop after turning a full one hundred and eighty degrees from where it had started. Just a mile back and slightly above them lingered another ship. Lori couldn't make out the details, but the vessel's wide and angular profile marked it as a VCX-series auxiliary ship. Commonly refitted as heavy fighters or support ships, VCXs were agile enough to guard entire convoys of less well armed freighters, but durable enough to have been used as a front-line fighter during the galactic civil war.

This VCX's brown and orange paint marked it as belonging to the Hutts.

"Hey Mitaka," Lori began, voice kept level, "how many blasters does this freighter have?"

"Two light blaster turrets, and one rear cannon." He answered with a gulp.

"How many of them work?"

"Only the starboard turret."

Not surprised but wildly disappointed, Lori hid the grimace that the news brought with it.

Fighting wasn't an option; they would be turned into slag the moment they even began to look hostile. Running might work, but the VCX would call in their location. Escaping Hutt space before more hostile ships arrived was a long shot at best.

There were plenty of supplies on the stolen freighter. Their best bet might be to pay the patrol off. She could pretend to be a merchant, or just another freighter. The Hutts were always willing to do business.

The distant VCX began to drift closer.

Seeing no other options, Lori told Mitaka, "Turn the sensors back on. They already know we're here. They're going to try and board the ship. Stall for as long as you can, but don't make them angry."

The last time they'd been boarded was by the First Order. Mitaka had thought that they'd be perfectly safe then, and they had nearly died. Now he was sure they were about to die, and his voice showed it, "Wh-what? Ar-are you sure? What do I tell them?"

Lori hated leaving Mitaka alone in the cockpit, worrying that he might tell the Hutts who was on board. Whether a calculated betrayal on his part or something nervously uttered, the result would be the same.

"We're merchants fleeing the war." She quickly told him as she left the pilots seat, "We thought Hutt space would be safe. Appeal to their ego."

Mitaka would have nervously asked for another lie to use, but Lori was steeping out the door as she uttered her instruction.

Alone again, Mitaka winced as the door shut behind her. Turning back towards the viewport, he was left to watch the Hutt ship drift ever closer.

With a lump in his throat, and a thousand panicked thoughts running through his head, he activated the freighter's comms and hailed the Hutt ship.

.***.***.***.***.

Armitage watched as Lori left the room.

They'd discussed as much as they could, mostly catching up on their year apart. There were so many unknown factors at work that coming up with some semblance of a plan had been impossible. Though Armitage didn't want to leave her side, they both agreed that Lori needed to find out what was happening on the rest of the ship, and in the galaxy at large.

That left Armitage to remain in the cargo bay with Ardis.

The child had protested slightly when Lori left to room. Only seldom being separated from her mother, she hadn't decided that she trusted Armitage enough to go towards him in search of comfort.

Watching his own daughter treat him like a stranger as she waited near the door for Lori ate at Armitage. He knew he shouldn't expect anything different; he'd missed the first year of her life. He was there now, but he wasn't sure that he could ever convince himself that he could make up for being gone.

Suppressing a groan, Armitage adjusted the way he was sitting. Though he could manage to move between lying down and sitting up on his own, doing so was tiring. After some effort, he came to a position that was slightly more comfortable than the last, his back flat against the wall and as straight as he could make it.

Ardis had paid the motion no mind, instead still focusing on the door to the rest of the ship.

Armitage tried to keep his expectations low as he called out to her, "Ardis?"

The little girl obviously recognized her name, twisting around at the sound of it but not leaving her spot near the door.

Armitage had no idea what Ardis should and shouldn't be capable of at a year old. Though he was still chronically short on breath, he called out again, "Come here, Ardis. Come on."

The infant blinked in confusion at him.

Still fighting chronic fatigue, Armitage patted a clear section of the bed next to him, "Right here, come one."

Recognizing the gesture, Ardis hesitated for a second. Eventually she decided to take a quick look at the door one more time before crawling over the ground and to the edge of the stretcher.

When she got to the edge of the bed, Armitage worried that she might need some help climbing over the low guard rail at the side of the mattress. He had only just admitted to himself that he wouldn't be able to help her when she quickly lifted herself up and unsteadily rolled herself over the low bar.

"You're quite the climber, aren't you?" he said, partially for his own sake.

Ardis looked up at Armitage, not completely sure of what he was saying, but sure enough that it was something positive.

Armitage didn't know how much she understood, and he hadn't thought ahead to what he would do now that she had actually come to his side. Hoping for any way to interact with her he asked, "Can you speak?"

"No!" she answered with a slightly too loud word.

He hadn't been expecting much. Though the response didn't make sense for the question, Armitage decided that it was progress, "Can you understand me?"

There was a slight hesitation, then, "No."

Armitage felt a look of confusion cross over his own features.

Before he came to the realization that Ardis only knew the one word and just enough to recognize when a question was being asked, he saw her poorly mimic his expression.

"You're not old enough to know how to mock someone." He thought out loud before getting an idea.

She didn't know how to say much, but she could clearly think intelligently about her surroundings. She seemed more than ready to copy whatever she saw happening around her.

Taking a chance, Armitage lifted a hand to point at himself before carefully enunciating, "Father."

It felt very strange to call himself that, especially after a year of having such a thought be too painful to bear. He didn't fell like a parent. He was sure that he hadn't earned the right to call himself that, and at the same time he hadn't the slightest clue about what a father was meant to do.

He'd only had the one terrible example. From what he had heard, his own father had been absent for the first year or so of his life as well. Though it was a surface similarity at most, it made his stomach churn. Armitage knew that Brendol had been a monster. From the second Ardis was born, Armitage couldn't imagine doing to her what Brendol had done to him. He couldn't be anything like that, even if it was by accident.

Armitage didn't know what he was meant to do at all now. Not only was he unsure of what it meant to be a father. He was unsure of who he was. Having lost the First Order, having lost every trace of his old life, he wasn't even sure who he was anymore. Besides Lori, he had been Hux to everyone. He'd been General Hux for most of his adult life, and now even acknowledging that was out of the question.

He had to decide who he was going to be now.

And this seemed like a good place to start.

Trying again, Armitage slowly said, "Father."

Ardis made a small noise as she thought before muttering, "Flower?"

Armitage wasn't sure where that particular mix up was coming from, but he decided that a simpler word might be better.

"Dad." He said this time.

Hearing something simple, Ardis was able to easily repeat back, "Da!"

It wasn't perfect, but it was progress. Armitage felt something like a smile tugging at the edge of his lips. It had been such a long time since he'd let himself be happy or accomplished that the feeling was foreign.

Giving into himself, he let a comfortable smile slide into place. Ardis saw it and mirrored the look. Riding a wave of satisfaction, and wondering exactly how much the little girl would copy him Armitage made a slightly more exaggerated face.

He felt overwhelmingly silly, but Ardis' face lit up with a wide smile and bubbly laughter. Nearly a shriek, Armitage was sure that he would have found the sound terrible and grating if it had come from anywhere else. But coming from his own daughter, it was something joyful and almost music like.

It only came to an end when the door to the rest of the ship slid open.

Armitage and Ardis both looked up to find Lori standing in the doorway. She seemed flushed, and clearly had something urgent to say.

Armitage didn't have to ask to know that something had gone wrong.


	26. Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and happy Monday. I had some fun with the character interactions in this chapter. Of course, I don't think the characters are very happy about the situation.

Brixie stood in the crew compartment, peering into the refrigerator in search of something to eat. She had been there for nearly fifteen minutes, telling herself that she must be hungry despite not feeling like it. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but her search for a meal was nothing more than a poor distraction from the thoughts running through her head.

She wasn't sure if she could or should trust anyone on this ship, but she didn't think that Mitaka had been lying to her. Like it or not, everything he said fit in perfectly with what she had seen.

The bounty on Lori's head had been Hux's way of quietly bringing her back to the First Order. Lori had only been keen on helping the mercenaries because hunting down and sometimes killing rebels had been her job.

Brixie fixated on the sickening details, turning over Lori's rank and positions like repeating them would make it easier to come to terms with. _Major Gallus, bounty hunter turned supply officer turned FOSB agent._

Brixie shivered slightly and then tried to pretend that it was because of the cold air coming from the refrigerator.

She would have continued to stare aimlessly into the refrigerator, if not for the sudden whoosh of an opening door behind her.

Standing up straight, and then stopping when she didn't hear any nervous chatter that would let her know that Mitaka had been the one to enter the room, Brixie took a breath before shutting the refrigerator and turning around.

Brixie expected to see Lori, though she wasn't sure what she had to say to the other woman.

She didn't expect to see Lori nearly dragging General Hux along. One of his arms was firmly set around Lori's shoulders, while his other hand gripped the top of a cane for more support. It was obvious that he was barely able to stand, with the cane wobbling from the pressure it was under and the generals face slightly pained.

The medic in Brixie wanted to say that he shouldn't be moving. She hadn't had any sutures even though the wound on his chest probably needed them. It wouldn't take much force to reopen what had healed. And never mind that she hadn't done anything for the wound on his leg.

The rest of Brixie, however, wasn't concerned with Hux's wellbeing.

"Brix," Lori was short of breath as she spoke, "no time to explain, get into one of the bedrooms."

Crossing her arms and not moving, Brixie watched as Lori helped Hux hobble his way to one of the enclosed bedrooms. As the two of them passed, Brixie saw that Lori had tied one of the sheets from the stretcher around her. Ardis was nearly too big for the makeshift sling, and was awkwardly positioned to avoid her father's arm as she hung from Lori's back.

Once the trio left the room, Brixie considered going back to the bridge to ask Mitaka what was going on. But her curiosity got the better of her, and she went to linger in the doorway that Lori had just left through.

Lori had just finished shuffling Armitage off of her shoulder and helped him come to a rest on one of the beds in the room. With him moved, Ardis quickly reached for Lori's shoulder. The little girl's grip was getting stronger by the day, and it felt vice-like.

Squirming slightly, Lori struggled to reach back so that she could put Ardis on the bed as well. Armitage considered offering to help before admitting to himself that he was in no place to do so. Instead, he struggled and shifted himself into a steady sitting position. It was only after he set his back firmly against the wall that he noticed the rebel in the doorway.

He considered saying something rude before remembering that Lori had asked him to at least pretend to be nice to the medic.

Brixie caught the general's eye for a split second before pointedly looking away from him and speaking to Lori's back, "What's going on?"

Lori sat an overly excited Ardis down, "We're getting boarded. Hide."

"By who?" Brixie didn't move.

An exasperated sigh came from Lori before she turned around to face the medic, "Hutt security forces. They're not going to be friendly."

 _Maybe not to you_ _people_. Brixie sourly thought as she looked between Lori and the general.

Lori caught the small movement and easily guessed what the medic was thinking, "If they think anything is going on, then all of us are in trouble. Including you. Just hide in the back somewhere, and let me handle this."

"Let me guess, you're going to lie our way out of this?"

The accusative edge to Brixie's words was impossible to miss. Lori didn't have the time to address it, "Probably, yes."

Brixie was caught off guard to the point that she didn't move as Lori made her way to the door. Lori quickly shuffled her way past Brixie, not accidentally pushing the medic slightly into the bedroom as she went.

Leaving Brixie in the same bedroom as Armitage and Ardis wasn't the best plan, but it was the quickest one. Brixie and Armitage both noticed what Lori was doing, though the medic was the first to speak.

"Hey! You can't just lock me in here with him." She took half a step forward before Lori put up a hand. Not actually wanting to get into a fight, that was enough to stop Brixie in her tracks.

Running out of time and options, Lori looked to Armitage.

"Go on, we'll be fine in here." He tried to hide how short of breath he was. And he wasn't just putting on a brave face for the rebel, he did prefer being in the same room as her so that he could see and possibly stop her if she tried to do anything foolish.

Wanting a better way, Lori begrudgingly accepted the circumstances before turning around and hastily shutting the door.

.***.***.***.***.

The door shut with a quick but heavy sound. As it faded, the room's occupants spent a long moment in a tense silence.

Armitage sat on a bed, his back firmly leaned against one wall. Sitting next to him and placed safely between him and the other walled side of the bed was Ardis. The little girl focused intently on the irregular crinkles in the sheets while the two adults in the room glared at each other.

Brixie eventually leaned against the far wall. Somehow managing not to twitch out of annoyance, she didn't think much about the potential dangers that might reach the ship. Instead, she watched Hux from across the room.

He was obviously struggling to stay sitting up. Brixie wanted to take some satisfaction from his suffering, but she couldn't find it within herself to be happy from another's pain. No matter how much they deserved it.

He had recovered about as well as could be expected. It was a miracle that he had survived in the first place, with the plasma just grazing the side of his heart. Half an inch in any other direction would have killed him instantly.

Short of major surgery, that wound would never heal correctly. Bacta was a medical miracle, but even it had limits. Scar tissue didn't react to the healing liquid, and burns were notoriously difficult. Even though only a few days had passed, Brixie doubted that even a dunk in a bacta tank would do anything to heal the internal damage in the general's chest. If he were able to find it in the next day or two, an internal treatment might help. But it was far more likely that the general would never be back to his full strength.

She hadn't looked too closely at the wound on his leg either. Now she could see that Lori had put a bacta patch over it. While that would help the outer section of the wound, it wouldn't do anything to heal the deeper damage. Brixie wasn't sure of the exact placement, but she could be reasonably sure that Hux's femur had been grazed and burned by the blaster bolt.

Moving away from her medical opinions, Brixie was consumed by the sight of General Hux sitting next to Ardis. The little girl seemed perfectly unaware of how much of a monster her father was, as she crinkled up handfuls of cloth and then seemed surprised that they fell back into place once she let them go.

The familial resemblance between the two was easy to notice when they were apart, and all but impossible to ignore when they were beside each other.

It made her skin crawl.

A distant sound of another ship docking with theirs echoed through the walls.

The deep noise shook the room slightly, catching Ardis' attention. Spooked by the strange thing, Ardis forgot about the sheets and nervously looked around the room. Unable to find the source of the sound, she turned towards Brixie.

Armitage knew that his own daughter barely knew him, but it cut like a dagger to see her look to the rebel for reassurance and safety. As painful and enraging as the situation was, Armitage couldn't make himself be angry at Ardis. Instead, he was left with a seething resentment towards Brixie. Lori had tried to tell him that the rebel had been a gracious friend, a lifesaver more than once, but any gratitude he might have was swept away by a jealousy that he didn't want to acknowledge.

Though they had been sealed away in the little room to hide, Brixie couldn't help but comment on the bitter look that Hux gave her, "Worried that you're going to get taken to jail?"

"No," he answered back before making a comment that he knew would pick at the rebel's worst insecurities, "I know I can trust Lori, and she said she'll get us out of this."

Hux's words cut deep and the wounded look on Brixie's face was impossible not to see. She tried to be just as petty in return, but she didn't have the same cruel edge, "Are you sure you can trust her?"

What Brixie was trying to do was painfully obvious to Hux. He found it a little bit pathetic, "Absolutely. She's never lied to me."

Brixie winced again. Hux thought that she was far too easy to get a rise out of. Though he would have been happy to continue on with a conversation where he was essentially left unchallenged, Ardis had begun to squirm in her place on the bed.

Abandoning the sheets, she began to look for some other thing to play with. In search of her next toy, she crawled across Armitage's lap and towards the edge of the bed. The small movement wouldn't have given Armitage a pause for thought, but Ardis managed to place her hand directly over the patched wound on his leg.

Stifling a shout, and feeling his whole-body tense at the sharp pain, he jerked his leg away. Off balance, Ardis' hands splayed out in front of her and she fell face first into the mattress.

Reeling from the unexpected agony, it took a second for Armitage to notice Ardis shake with a breath that could quickly turn into a shrieking sob.

Brixie took a step forward and was halfway to the bed by the time Armitage had even begun to recover.

At once concerned for Ardis, but also refusing to be replaced by the rebel, Armitage reached forward for the infant. Finding a way to pull Ardis close to himself in a way that didn't hurt either of them was a challenge all on its own. In fact, the task proved impossible and Armitage was shaken by a searing pain that crossed over his chest.

By the time Brixie came to the side of the bed, Armitage had taken a hold of Ardis and was cradling the flustered child as well as he could.

Remembering how delicate she was as a baby, he was mostly concerned with whether or not Ardis had been hurt from the short fall. His second issue came from having the rebel in the room. He'd have to be a fool to think that she hadn't assumed that he would be a terrible father. Anything that might look like proof of that was just as grating as his physical wounds.

Brixie didn't care much for General Hux's wellbeing, and she was sure that Ardis was fine from the short fall. But, she had begun moving before waiting to see how the scenario would end. She knew that Hux had headed the Stormtrooper Program, and she didn't trust him not to treat his own daughter with the callous disregard that Finn had said the troopers experienced.

When she saw him raise his hands, she assumed the worst.

Armitage felt the unsaid accusation radiating off of the rebel. It made him sick.

"My daughter is safe with me," he didn't call out what Brixie was thinking, even suggesting that he would ever hit Ardis was too terrible.

"You might have Lori fooled, but I don't believe that for a second."

"If you think I would stoop to that, you know absolutely nothing about me."

"I don't know…" Brixie blinked back a certain amount of surprise, only for it to be replaced by a white-hot rage, "There's video of you destroying Hosnian Prime! We got a transmission from the Tah'nuhnans, I watched you destroy that planet too. Finn told me all about what you people do to the stormtroopers when they're just kids, and don't even get me started about Mon Cala."

Brixie's accusations weren't hollow words so much as they were just a list of facts. Knowing all of that did nothing to change the fact that she didn't know him.

"So I did." He freely admitted, still holding Ardis close, "I've done all of those things and probably a thousand more. I don't have to defend myself to someone like you, and I won't be treated like a rabid animal-"

Armitage would have said more, but he was cut off by a pained gasp. Talking at length was difficult enough, and the slowly fading pain in his leg wasn't helping.

Brixie made a quick comment, "You deserve worse than that."

"Is this about what I deserve?" he picked at Brixie words, before deliberately trying to be as unpleasant as possible, "If anything, I deserve a thank you. Your whole little rebellion has me to thank for surviving. I was the one who told you about Palpatine's plans. I was the spy."

"You're lying." Brixie was quick to dismiss the general.

"Am I? We both know that deception is Lori's forte, not mine. Look at me and tell me that again."

She hated playing into what Hux was saying, but Brixie did look up. She almost had to admit a terrible truth to herself before a muffled voice came through the door. Jolted into silence, Brixie and Armitage both quickly looked to the door.

"They're here…" Brixie muttered.

"Quite!" Armitage hissed.

A long second of near silence drifted by, distant voices muffled to the point that their words couldn't be made out.

Then, a set of footsteps came to the door.

Not a second after they stopped, the door whooshed to the side.


	27. Wanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Small update, I put that there will be 34 chapters total, but that is just an estimate. There's a small chance that this will go to 35 chapters. At any rate, I hope y'all enjoy the rest of the story.

Lori tried to slow her pace as she left the crew quarters. As irritated and afraid for what might happen next as she was, she couldn't let any of that show now.

Stilling herself into the persona of a wary and somewhat disgruntled shipping captain, Lori made for the set of doors meant for docking and moving between ships in mid-space. As she came to a stop she was quickly joined by Mitaka, who came trotting out of the cockpit that was only a few steps away.

"What did you tell them?" she asked as a series of small clicks and whirrs came from the connecting mechanisms.

"That we're merchants bound for Nal Hutta. We heard the transmission about a fight on Exegol, and decided to stop moving until we learned more."

"And what did you learn?"

Mitaka blinked at her, confused.

"About them," Lori impatiently clarified, her voice a low hiss now that the hatch was mere seconds away from opening.

"O-oh! Right," Mitaka stammered. "They're a patrol ship for the Desilijic clan."

Lori nodded, she purposefully kept away from the Hutt's, but she recognized the name Desilijic. If she wasn't mistaken, they had fallen out of power over thirty years ago when Jabba was killed. She filed that information away while noting Mitaka's mostly true lie. He'd learned to be a more believable liar in the time they spent with the rebels. Lori appreciated the bit of competence, but she mentally noted the fact that Mitaka might be more of a threat than she gave him credit for.

"Good. Now just play along."

"Yes, ma'am," Mitaka acknowledged just before the whirring and clicking gave way to a heavy thud and hiss that was the airlock sealing.

Shortly after, the doors slid to the side to reveal two figures. One was a duros, telling by his blue skin with large pupil-less red eyes. He had a large head with no hair, and a flattened face with no nose. He wore an unadorned synth-leather coat and carried a low powered blaster pistol strapped to his thigh. Lori assumed that he was the pilot, since it seemed very unlikely that that role would go to the downright ancient assassin droid next to him.

The droid's black metal, red sensors, and iconic narrow barrel of a head clearly marked it as being an IG-86. Replaced by the IG-88 during the empire's reign, that droid had to be at least sixty years old. The groaning and stiff movements that it made while walking onto her ship suggested that it was even older.

Despite being put off by the obviously deadly droid, Lori didn't let her surprise show. Not wanting them to get an upper hand by starting the conversation, she spoke first.

"Y'all already talked to my pilot. But he didn't seem to learn much, is there still a war on out there?"

The droid tried to take a long step forward, but was stopped by a gesture from the duros.

"The Hutts don't waste their time with petty things like wars." He answered without really answering.

"Uh-huh." Lori put a hand on her hip to make it look as if she was debating with herself whether or not she would demand a real answer. After she decided that enough time had passed, she offered a follow-up comment that would hopefully get them off her ship as quickly as possible, "I take it they're too busy looking at things that matter, like turning a profit."

The alien nodded his head. It was difficult to tell from his lack of pupils, but Lori was sure that he was trying to take stock of what little he could see of the ship, "Yes, exactly. We'll need to see your cargo. There's a tax for coming into Hutt space."

Lori was pretty sure that the duros was making this tax up on the spot. She was also sure that he wouldn't suffer any consequences for destroying any ship he deemed uncooperative.

Playing along, Lori did her best to look like she was tired and resigned to the fact that the two visitors would get whatever they wanted. "Sure. This way."

All four of them traveled down the corridor to the cargo bay. Lori didn't give the crew quarters a second glance as they passed it, though the door to the kitchen area was still open. She was the first to step into the dimly lit cargo bay, followed closely behind by the duros. Behind him, Mitaka and the assassin droid were walking nearly even, neither one of them wanting the other at their back.

Just as the tension between the two was about to come to a head, the duros called out to the droid, "take stock of the cargo. See if there is anything for them to pay that tax with."

The droid's headpiece made a muted grinding noise as it looked away from Mitaka, but it did what it was told. The former lieutenant considered the scene with an obviously nervous air about him.

Lori must have hidden the stretcher as it wasn't in plain sight. Mitaka wasn't sure where she had put it, and while it might not be found at a glance, such a large piece of equipment wouldn't be difficult to find.

Even for Lori, such a thing would be difficult to explain. Mitaka doubted that they would have a chance at fighting back if that droid decided to attack. While he didn't think that Lori would give either of the two visitors a reason to fight, he was also sure that they would get violent if they realized that any of them were former First Order. While he and Lori had been mostly nameless officers, and he was nearly unrecognizable besides, General Hux was a notorious and easily recognizable figure.

Mitaka shuffled slightly, giving an accidental visual cue to his stressed thoughts.

Lori noticed, and while she had been impressed enough with his earlier actions, she didn't trust him not to fold under additional pressure, "You go on and get back to the cockpit. I don't need you picking a fight with the droid."

Stalling slightly, Mitaka cast a nervous glance up at Lori. As he did, he noticed the duros suspiciously eyeing him.

Spurred on from that, Mitaka trotted off back down the hall and away from the visitors.

When Lori turned back from talking to Mitaka, she found the duros gazing around the room.

"You have a very large number of First Order medical kits." he casually commented, "they must have been very difficult to come by."

She hated offering information, but the fact that the comment was an accusation was obvious. "Someone was selling, and there's always a demand for meds. Not asking questions is good for business."

"Maybe," The duros accepted the explanation, "but it's a shame you didn't learn the source. There's a large price out for First Order personnel these days."

While getting them off the ship was priority number one, Lori couldn't resist the chance to gather more information, "Anyone in particular to keep an eye out for?"

The duros nodded slightly with something that could have been a stifled laugh, "You and your pilot don't look like the fighting types."

"We're not, but a credit's a credit." Lori didn't like that the man was being very evasive in his answers. While she didn't think that he suspected her or Mitaka of being First Order, she did get the sense that he didn't believe that they were simple merchants. Working on her assumptions, Lori made another small comment, "A bit of kidnapping on the side wouldn't be the worst thing we've done."

The duros shrugged while he watched the droid work, "Is that so?"

Lori wasn't going to offer any additional information, and decided to leave a comment for the duros to react to instead, "We take whatever work we can get."

In the short while where he considered how to reply, a muffled set of voices echoed through the walls.

The droid stopped.

"Is there someone else on this ship?" the duros asked.

Lori knew that denying the obvious would only make them look suspicious, "I got a couple of passengers. Bunch of dead weights, but they paid for their ride."

"To Nal Hutta?" the duros asked in disbelief.

Wishing that Mitaka had chosen literally any other planet to name as their destination, Lori went with it, "I already told you I don't ask questions."

The duros' wide eyes narrowed slightly before he once again spoke with the droid, "Leave the cargo, find the passengers."

Biting down her fear and mild panic, Lori said, "You'll go and scare them half to death with that thing. I'll fetch them from their room."

While the duros had no way of knowing that someone as notorious as General Hux was just a few rooms away, he was sure that these supposed merchants were hiding something, "I''ll be coming with you."

There wasn't a good way to get out of this.

Not yet at least.

"Fine, fine. But there's no need to bring the big guns," She said while gesturing at the assassin droid, "it's just some lady and a kid."

There was a second's hesitation as the duros looked Lori over to make sure she wasn't armed.

"Fine." He told Lori before turning back to the droid, "continue with the cargo. If there are any problems, then come in with deadly force."

The droid spun one of its sensors, apparently having broken its vocalizer. Lori stuck to character and gave an almost bored roll of the eyes as the two of them left the cargo bay for the crew quarters.

The journey was short, Lori made sure to shut the door between the hall and the kitchen behind them. The duros looked expectantly at her, clearly expecting an explanation as to why she had done that.

"You're welcome to go check on them." Lori gestured to the shut bedroom door instead, "I already got shouted at for barging in on them once, you can take the heat this time."

The duros knew that something was wrong, but he also knew that Lori was unarmed, and something as simple as a shut door wouldn't stop an assassin droid. Heavy with distrust, he walked to the bedroom door.

Lori knew that there wouldn't be a way to talk herself out of this one once he saw into the bedroom. She had to act quickly, and quietly so that the assassin droid didn't come running.

 _This is a bad idea_ , she thought to herself as she unfastened her belt and silently slid it from its place.

The duros didn't look over his shoulder as he slid the bedroom door open. He didn't move as he processed the three faces looking back at him. He didn't notice Lori quickly approaching from behind as he slowly recognized Armitage.

In one motion she jumped the duros and wrapped her belt around his neck before kicking out the back of his legs. Falling to the floor with a too loud thus, Lori desperately tried to keep him from shouting for help. Struggling to keep pressure on his neck, Lori put a knee on his shoulders before leaning back. Nearly having the full weight of her body to choke the life out of the man sent him into a wild and desperate state.

Blindly reaching back and trying to roll to get her off of him, the most sound he could make was the occasional muted thud of his kicking feet hitting the ground.

Atop the struggle, Lori nearly toppled to the side. Knowing that she had passed the point of no return, she spared a hand to reach for the blaster clipped to the man's leg.

It was set to kill.

Knowing that the blast would be loud enough to alert the assassin droid, Lori had to spare a second to toggle the thing to stun. As she did, the man beneath her made a final and desperate roll to the side.

Lori toppled to the floor, rolling as much as she could to dampen the sound of her fall.

The duros had just enough time to greedily gasp for breath before Lori twisted to the side and delivered a point-blank shot to the side of his head.

He snapped to a stop, leaving Lori to huff on the ground as quietly as she could manage. As adrenaline began to drain, Lori looked up from her place on the ground. Above her stood Brixie, hands over her mouth and eyes wide with shock. Beyond her, Armitage still sat on the bed, Ardis in his lap and drawn as close to his chest as he could manage.

Lori said nothing, instead opting to bring a finger up to her lips in a gesture that asked for silence. She got it and as she stood up, Brixie knelt down, feeling for a pulse at the duros' neck.

Leaving the medic to her own devices, Lori approached Armitage and Ardis. The infant was being held firmly in place, unable to see the rest of the room from her spot in Armitage's arms.

Lori wasn't sure how loudly she could speak without being heard by the assassin droid, so she kept her voice hushed, "We need to go."

Armitage looked at the unconscious man on the ground and inwardly cursed. He hadn't a clue about the rest of the ship, but Lori's expression made it clear that this could be life or death. Bracing himself for what would be agony, Armitage coaxed Ardis towards Lori before shuffling his way off of the bed.

As Lori took a hold of the infant, she immediately worried about what to do with Armitage. He tried to hide a wince as his feet came to rest on the ground, and both of them knew that he wouldn't be able to walk anywhere without help.

Brixie had finished her check on the duros, and was calmed slightly by the fact that he was still breathing. Rattled by the sudden attack, she turned to Lori with the intent to demand an answer. Instead, she found Lori standing not but a foot away.

"Carry her, and follow me." Lori said, careful not to speak too loudly while offering Ardis to Brixie.

Brixie hesitated for a second, unsure of whether or not Lori had any ulterior motives.

Armitage didn't like the idea of trusting the rebel with their daughter, no matter what Lori thought of her.

"No," he grumbled, while moving forward and forcing himself to stand.

Even though he had a cane to help support him, Armitage nearly buckled under his own weight. Lori took a quick step towards him. Brixie followed close behind, though that was mostly out of instinct rather than specific concern for Hux.

There wasn't time for a debate, and Lori wasn't in the mood to entertain one even if there was. Not waiting for anyone to rebut her, she pushed Brixie slightly more forward. Armitage tried to avoid her, but lost his balance and ended up reaching out for the rebel to keep himself from falling.

Satisfied enough that Brixie wouldn't throw him to the floor, Lori turned for the door, "Come on."

Brixie protested, but didn't shove Armitage away, "I don't-"

"There's an assassin droid." Lori all but hissed, "It will kill all of us, be quiet."

Brixie stopped for a moment. She had never encountered an assassin droid in person, but she had spoken about them with Anderphan. He usually talked about his time fighting the empire with something like pride or joy, but the few times that assassin droids came up, he usually grew quite or quickly changed the subject.

As much as Brixie hated being in the same room as Hux, let alone being his walking aid, she didn't want to leave anyone to die. Begrudgingly, Brixie followed along behind Lori as she left the bedroom and headed towards the front of the ship.

They moved slowly, and Lori occasionally had to fidget with Ardis to keep the child quiet, but they arrived at the airlock doors just behind the cockpit without incident.

Mitaka had gone to the cockpit as he had been told. Unsure of what might happen next, he had debated shutting the door behind him. Ultimately, he left it open so that he would know the second that the two visitors were gone.

Instead of seeing the droid or duros round the corner, Mitaka was shocked to find Lori approaching with Brixie and Hux in tow.

"What-"

"Shh!" Lori tried to be as quiet as possible while she shushed Mitaka. Instead of saying anything, she nodded towards the airlock that would lead to the Hutt ship.

When the former lieutenant hesitated again, this time nervously eyeing the group, Lori gestured once more before stepping towards the door itself. The thing opened with a too loud hiss that made Lori wince.

Rushing forward, Lori hoped that she was making the right choice as she stepped into the other ship. The rest of the group was following closely behind, but they were unarmed and wouldn't be helpful if there was a fight.

Upon finding an empty room, she sat Ardis on the ground before setting the blaster back to kill and quickly making for the cockpit. The Hutt ship was dim and slightly run down, clearly geared towards fighting rather than long range travel. Though there was only a short hall between her and the cockpit, Lori passed two lockers filled to the brim with blasters and detonators. Though they might be armed here, she doubted that they would stand a chance against the assassin droid.

Spurred on by the grim thought, Lori hurried her pace as she stepped into the cockpit.

Sweeping the blaster and she went, Lori quickly looked left, right, and then up. Finding no one she slid into the pilot's seat without a second thought. As she did, there was another tell tale hiss and thud of the closing exterior doors. Frantically searching the dashboard for the airlock controls, Lori knew that the droid had to have heard that.

Cursing as she went, she found that all the labels were written in huttese. Blindly reaching out, Lori called back to the rest of the ship, "Hold onto something."

Finding the correct toggle switch, she quickly retracted the airlock before yanking the yolk to the side. A split second after the new ship rolled away from the old one, Mitaka appeared in the doorway behind her.

"Figure out the weapons on this thing. I'm prepping a jump to lightspeed; we need to lose that droid."

"Are you sure that's-"

The end of Mitaka's comment was cut off by a dissipated blaster bolt from the freighter.

Spurred into action Mitaka slipped into the co-pilots seat. As he desperately searched the crowded control panel, Mitaka never thought he would be so thankful for the freighter's malfunctioning turrets. Their current ship was rocked twice more by a few weak blasts from the freighter before Mitaka found the controls he was searching for.

At the same time, Lori had been weaving around and hurriedly searching for the navigation panel. Though she found it, there was enough time for the two ships to exchange a few hissing rounds of plasma at each other before she yanked a lever down and sent the ship streaking off into hyperspace.


	28. Bracca

Three days had passed on the stolen Hutt ship. Only meant for a crew of two, it had less living space than the freighter. Though it was the same size overall size as the freighter, the hull was thicker and the engine compartment was larger. Where the previous ship lacked a full weapons system, this one was heavily armed. The only bedroom had a single bunk bed, and it was cramped besides.

While Lori did appreciate the increase in security, she didn't like the increase in notoriety. Even if the Hutts didn't come looking for their stolen ship, word would get out about Armitage. She had only been able to piece together the events in the galaxy at large from a few scattered transmissions, but it sounded like he might be the highest ranking First Order member left.

Lori knew that he was guilty of several war crimes. While they didn't faze her, she knew that Armitage would bear the full brunt of the New Republic's ire if caught. Whatever punishments they had in mind for all of the First Order would likely be condensed down and given to Armitage out of some need for revenge.

She had definitely seen something dark pass over Brixie. And, as much as she hated to admit it, Mitaka might be just as unpredictable.

Even after considering their escape from the last ship Lori wasn't sure what else had happened to Brixie, but the medic seemed more reserved, barely speaking at all. Lori tried to tell herself that everyone was just tense from being stuck so close together. On the freighter they each had a few rooms to hide away in, but here they were almost always in sight of one another.

The only place with a hope at privacy was the cockpit. Lori had only left it a handful of times, usually to check on Armitage and Ardis. When she had to sleep, she did so in the pilot's seat. Not only because they were tight on beds, but also because Mitaka seemed keen on staying in the cockpit as well.

The labels and most of the data readouts were written in huttese. While Lori was pretty sure that Mitaka couldn't read any of them, she also thought that he would be able to figure them out if given enough time alone. While she didn't think that he would go out of his way to turn on her, she didn't trust him not to either.

And there was the fact that Brixie would turn on them the instant she didn't think it would get anyone killed.

Lori shifted slightly in the pilot's seat.

Once they landed, she needed to get rid of Brixie and Mitaka.

Old instincts said to just kill them and be done with it, but Lori didn't want to be the person she had been. She didn't want to pick people up and then drop them the second they became inconvenient. She knew that the cold little part of her that only considered people for what they could do for her would never really go away, but it was just that. A part of her. Not all of her.

She had to get rid of Brixie and Mitaka, but she needed to do it in a way that she could live with.

Just a couple feet away from Lori, Mitaka was intently studying the weapons systems controls, utterly unaware that his life was being weighed. He had done some cross referencing between what was written and what he could recognize on sight. He had no idea how to pronounce anything, but he could identify a few written words.

Trying to slowly cobble together a language was Mitaka's way of distracting himself from the situation at hand. He had no idea where they were going, and at this point he was afraid to ask. Lori had made one quick jump away from the dogfight with the assassin droid. After that, an hour or so had gone by with her intently looking through the ship's navigation logs before settling on a planet that she apparently recognized the name of. Yet, three days later, the still hadn't arrived.

The only thing that Mitaka knew for sure was that they were traveling away from Hutt space.

"We're about to drop out of hyperspace," Lori broke what felt like a days long silence, "go tell the others to get ready for a landing."

Mitaka startled slightly as he looked up from his task. He debated whether or not Lori might be trying to get him out of the cockpit for some other reason, but she seemed to be pulling at the same levers and toggling the same switched that launched them into hyperspance in the first place.

As satisfied as he could be that nothing would happen without him knowing about it, Mitaka left the room.

Being limited on what she could and couldn't read slowed her progress, but Lori was fairly sure she was preparing the ship for a landing. With a heavy rattle and some barely controlled shaking, the ship dropped out of light speed at the edge of the Bracca system.

Known as a soggy rock where ships go to die, Lori hadn't ever had a reason to visit the scrap yard planet. While it wasn't as completely isolated as a similarly populated planet in the outer-rim would be, Bracca was as much of a backwater as it was possible to find in the mid-rim.

More importantly, ships from all over the galaxy were hauled here to be cut to scrap. Even something as specific as the Hutt markings on this ship would get lost and quickly forgotten in the endless shuffle of ships on the planet below.

Or in the swarm of ships that sat in low orbit. As Lori drew closer to the stormy planet she came upon a cloud of tug-ships. For a moment she couldn't clearly see the large vessel that they were wrangling to Bracca's surface, its dark gray silhouette lost against the similarly colored atmosphere.

But then, the large thing listed to the side, its dozen crackling engines giving out one by one until it was left a cold black husk. As the nearly two-mile-long ship breached the atmosphere, a hot red cone formed around it's pointed tip. The dull glow cast a flickering gleam over the ships near black surface.

What might be one of the last _Resurgent_ -class Star Destroyers in the galaxy unceremoniously slid towards Bracca, eventually disappearing completely beneath a bank of clouds.

 _Hopefully that will keep everyone busy down there_. While Lori could have considered watching a star destroyer be sent to its grave as an omen, she thought of the ship only in terms of what its presence could do for her.

With the space around Bracca quickly clearing, Lori moved the stolen Hutt ship into orbit. She had been improvising for the last several days, and now was no different. As she hailed a landing pad, she readied herself for more close calls and hasty lies.

.***.***.***.***.

Armitage sat at the edge of the bottom bunk.

He'd made some progress over the last few days, but he was still in rough condition. He'd taken his first walk without assistance late yesterday, and even then he was still completely reliant on his cane.

On his short journey around the ship he found that the thing as more cramped than he remembered. Besides the bedroom, there wasn't anywhere else for the others to sleep. He had asked Lori about it, only to find that Mitaka and Brixie had strategically chosen when and where they would sleep in order to keep an eye on her.

Armitage had already been on edge knowing that they were probably the subject of a manhunt, but the knowledge that they might be betrayed at any moment by a former lieutenant and an impressionable rebel made the stress borderline unbearable.

Even worse was the fact that the medic had occasionally peeked into the room over the course of their trip, not once saying anything to him. Armitage was fairly certain that she had just been checking in to make sure he hadn't done anything to Ardis, who hadn't left his side since they had all tumbled onto the ship. Days later and Brixie's unsaid accusation still grated at him.

The only thing that helped him cling to sanity and some sense of calm was the fact that Ardis had been warming up to him.

At first regarding him as little more than a stranger, the infant had quickly grown fond of Armitage. It had taken days of repetition, but he had earned the title of 'da' from the child.

Now, Ardis sat beside him on the bed. She had been tantalizingly close to taking a step without clinging to the edge of the bed, but Mitaka had come into the room only a second ago with a warning that they were about to land.

In preparation, Mitaka set the infant onto the mattress. He had given Hux a purposefully wide berth, managing to avoid him for all the time that they had been on the stolen freighter.

"Lieutenant," Hux called out before the man cold rush out of the room again, "I have a question for you."

Feeling his shoulders deflate at an old title he hadn't heard in well over a year, Mitaka slowly looked up, "Yes, sir?"

Hux looked the young man over. He was scarcely recognizable, and Hux was sure that he would have never guessed his identity had Lori not told him.

Mitaka squirmed under Hux's gaze. It felt just as judgmental and dangerous as it ever had.

"What do you think of our situation?" Armitage purposefully asked a broad question in the hope that Mitaka's answer would reveal what the young man was worried about the most.

"I-I don't… Do you mean being on the run? It's quite unfortunate." Mitaka wasn't sure that there was any way to answer that without making himself look bad in some way.

Realizing that he had been too general, Hux clarified, "Yes, it is. What about being trapped with that rebel woman, what do you think of her?"

"Brixie?" Mitaka didn't like the tone that the general used to mention the kindly medic, "She's… been quite hel-. Useful. She's been useful."

Hux heard how carefully Mitaka was choosing his words. Lori had made it clear to Hux that Mitaka's loyalty to them had been waning. As much as Hux would have liked to think that no one would dare betray the order after living among rebels for a year, the proof that Mitaka could was hard to deny.

Taking note of Mitaka's questionable loyalty. Hux spoke just above a hush, "I see."

Seeing an opportunity to leave, Mitaka didn't reply but instead quickly ducked out of the room. Shortly after, the ship jostled weakly to the side, a sign that they had touched down.

Ardis wobbled at the sensation, only to be kept upright by Armitage putting a hand against her chest. Instead of falling off the bed, she teetered back with a mildly confused look.

Looking down at Ardis, Armitage the tried to deny the troubling reality that was settling down around him. There were many terrible things that might be waiting for him, and there was no way of knowing when and where they might be coming from. But, for now, he had some small pleasure at his side.

"You'll hurt yourself if you fall to the floor." Armitage explained to the infant, even though he knew she didn't fully understand, "the bed is much softer."

Ardis was content enough to be getting attention. In search for more, she sat back up before purposefully plopping onto her back once again.

.***.***.***.***.

The streets were clogged by masses of dead eyed and tired workers. Lori slipped between them as Brixie struggled to keep even. As she went, Lori noting that crowd was diverse enough, with a few human faces intermingled with aliens and droids. She didn't want to stake their lives on it, but she was sure that she could disguise Armitage well enough to get him down a street or two without being recognized.

Lori had brought the ship down in what might pass for a settlement. There weren't any buildings, so much as there were repurposed wreckages that people lived out of. Discarded hulls dotted planes of twisted metal that made up the landscape of the planet, and most if not all of the people on the streets wore some variation of the same blue and orange poncho.

And it was pouring rain. Sheets of persistent rain came down from the smog laden air, simultaneously giving everything a dirty yet glistening sheen.

To Lori's pleasure, it didn't look like there was any kind of guard for the town, First Order leaning, or New Republic affiliated. It seemed like the people here had been forgotten, and as desolate as it made the place it was all the more convenient for Lori.

Brixie, on the other hand, didn't see a convenient place to disappear so much as she saw throngs of people that were surviving without living.

"What are we doing here?" she impatiently asked, ready to hear some carefully calculated response.

"First things first, we're dumping that Hutt ship." Lori spoke over a shoulder. She made an effort not to look paranoid, but she was keeping a keen eye on the crowd.

"And then?" Brixie pressed.

"And then we find a place to sleep for the night." Lori purposefully gave an answer that didn't hint at her future plans.

Brixie noticed, "Then?"

"Then," Lori replied a little more forcefully, "we all get a good night's rest in real beds."

The medic stopped to give Lori a sharp look.

Lori paused slightly, looking back to her companion, "Don't look at me like that Brix, we've all had a long week. Can't we just pretend to get along for a night or two?"

They both knew that Lori was plotting on how to make her escape while bringing Hux and Ardis along. Brixie resented the fact that Lori was being so evasive. Even now, after her lies had finally surfaced, she was still trying to play coy. Lori was genuine with her request that they stop being so critical of each other for a few nights at least, but it was clear to her that was wishful thinking.

"Just say you're going to try to run away." Brixie still hadn't moved.

A few confused glances came from the passing waves of people, Lori didn't like the idea of attracting attention so quickly, "Fine. I'm going to make a break for it as soon as I get the chance. But it doesn't look like that chance will be tonight, now come on."

Reluctantly, Brixie took a step to come even with Lori.

Thoughts and questions swirled in the medic's mind, most of them demands for explanations that she knew she didn't want to hear. She kept them all to herself as Lori eventually led them through the crowd and to what passed as a market.

Lori seemed perfectly at ease among the shady back alleys and questionable storefronts. As much as Brixie didn't want to admit it, she stayed near Lori for some semblance of safety. Not that she felt much better as Lori began chatting with passersby and asking around for where she might be able to sell an old ship for scrap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not often I put the Notes at the end, but here we are.  
> Anyhow, since I mentioned Bracca in this chapter, I was wondering if anyone had played/watched a play through of Jedi: Fallen Order. I played through it last month and I've been considering writing a fic about Cal. At the moment there's only 36 fics with the 'Inquisitor Cal' tag and I'm really tempted to make that number 37.


	29. Close Quarters

It only took Lori a couple of hours to find someone willing to buy the nearly overflowing cabinets of blasters. She was pretty sure that the pantoran that had come to drop off the credits and pick up the blasters was on his way to do something very illegal, but she wasn't interested in whatever questionable things might be happening on Bracca.

Her main concern was keeping Armitage from being recognized.

Using the cash she had gotten from the arms sale, Lori had been able to get a hotel room and still have more than enough left over to buy a few nondescript clothes. After Armitage had changed, Lori threw his old uniform in a bag and then tossed it into the muck below the landing pads. It wasn't the best solution, but anything was better than being found with a general's uniform on the ship, or in their luggage.

After the wardrobe change, the next ordeal was actually moving to the hotel. Their progress had been slow, with Armitage barely able to move on his own. Lori had tried to help, but Armitage insisted that she carry Ardis instead. Not being in a life or death situation, Brixie didn't offer to help.

Actually getting into the hotel room was a particularly slow process, as Lori checked and double checked that their path was clear of other guests or staff. Doing so in a way that didn't look suspicious took even longer, to the point that Armitage was exhausted to collapse by the time he finally stepped into the private room.

As Armitage staggered to one of the two beds in the room, Lori followed close behind him. Once he had ungracefully fallen onto the bed, she gently sat Ardis next to him.

"Still in one piece?" Lori gently asked as she turned slightly to face Armitage.

He knew that she was trying not to draw attention to the fact that he had been left gasping from less than a quarter mile of walking. As much as he appreciated her concern, he hated that he looked in need of it.

"Yes," was all he managed to huff out.

Lori could see the irritation that was left unsaid. She decided that it would be better for him not to linger on it. Keeping her voice low, she changed the topic to that of their escape.

"Good. Be ready to move again, soon."

Armitage shuddered slightly and suppressed a cough as he tried to rein his breathing in, "Do you have a plan?"

"Do I ever?" she answered with a light tone and a small, almost pitiful, shrug.

He looked at her, knowing that she was trying to lighten the moment, but unable to smile for it.

Lori wanted to try to hide behind a clever comment from the grim reality they found themselves in, but she also knew that they needed to talk seriously. Splitting the difference, she tried again, "I'm working on it, but for now we're going to have to improvise."

Making it up as he went along wasn't Armitage's preferred way of doing things, but if he had to choose one person to trust his fate to, it would be Lori.

"I'm thinking that we settle down," she went on, looking towards Ardis as she did, "find a quiet planet to disappear on."

Thinking ahead to a better time to come felt foolhardy, but having the opportunity to hope was addicting. Having Lori by his side, and the chance at a life with her and their daughter had been a dream returned from the dead.

"The simple life," Armitage added on, following Lori's gaze towards Ardis.

A small pressure settled around Armitage's hand.

"I know it's not what you wanted," Lori spoke in a hush.

A sad and fragile smile whispered its way across Armitage's lips. She was right: he hadn't wanted any of this, he hadn't known he would. But Lori' had changed his life, Ardis even more so.

He wasn't the man he was anymore.

He might still be cruel and massively petty. He might still be dismissive and judgmental. He might still hate the New Republic and all that it stood for. But he decided that he wasn't the man to change the galaxy. He'd had his chance, it wasn't just that he had failed, it was that he had nearly torn himself apart in the process. Losing the First Order was a debilitating blow, but loosing Lori and Ardis had nearly killed him.

"But I want it now," he told Lori as he looked back at her.

She looked down at her hand on his before meeting his gaze, "Then I'll give it to you."

Heavy with that promise, Lori releases Armitage's hand and backed away from the bed.

As she did, Brixie lingered in the doorway, searing resentment harshly covering what was an otherwise quiet moment.

General Hux sat on the edge of a bed, breathing heavily from the long walk. Lori lingered next to him, saying something just hushed enough that Brixie couldn't hear. Whatever it had been drew a small and almost pitiful smile from Hux. Compared to the dour face that Brixie had seen on him in holograms and the spiteful expressions she'd seen in the last few days, the smile seemed sickeningly out of place.

Brixie stewed over the fact that Hux had been reunited with a loving family that he had no right to have.

 _How many other families got torn apart because of him_? Bitter thoughts rolled through Brixie's mind, _How many other people have wished for that? How many of them will never get it?_

The medic wished that she was ashamed of herself for the disgust she felt at the scene. She wished that she still had a family to go back to; that her adopted band of mercenaries hadn't been whittled down to two or three people; that her own homeland hadn't been swept up by an imperial remnant and then invaded by the First Order.

 _Are Lex and Dak even still alive? Can I trust Dak? And what about the Imperial Remnants? Are they back?_ A few persistent worries picked at Brixie. There were a thousand problems to worry about in the galaxy, but none of them seemed to affect the people that caused them.

"I'll sleep on the couch." Mitaka's voice from her side caught Brixie off guard.

"Hmm?" she looked over towards him before taking in the details of the room as a further distraction from the cathartic reunion that filled her with something dark and heavy.

It was a simple thing, with two full sized beds placed along the wall to the left, while a couch and lamp sat opposite of them. A holoprojector occupied the far corner of the room. Beside it and facing towards the door was a window, it's curtain drawn and blocking the view of the street outside. In all, it was probably less living space than the ship they had just been on.

"Oh, no it's okay. You can take the bed." Brixie offered without thinking.

Mitaka had only suggested as much out of politeness and didn't try to turn down the offer. He was on the verge of thanking Brixie, but was interrupted by Lori.

"Don't get too comfortable," she said, "Mitaka, you're coming with me. We still need to find a buyer for the ship."

"I- err…" Mitaka looked back towards Brixie. He knew that she had no authority either, but he was reluctant to scramble for a reason why he didn't want to be alone with Lori, though staying with the general and his daughter wasn't that much better of an alternative.

Lori didn't necessarily want to bring either Brixie or Mitaka with her, but she wasn't about to leave Armitage alone and outnumbered by them either.

"Unless you want to come along instead," Lori looked to Brixie.

The medic didn't want to let Lori out of her sight, being fairly certain that she was planning something that would let general Hux escape the punishment he deserved. After thinking on it for a moment, Brixie admitted to herself that she probably wouldn't be able to keep Lori from doing anything in particular. Hux, on the other hand, was mostly bedridden and she was sure that she could keep him from leaving the hotel room.

Holding onto the closest thing to defiance that she was capable of Brixie looked back at Lori, "I'll stay here, actually."

From the expression on Brixie's face it was obvious to Lori that she was suspicious. The distrust from a formerly close friend stung a little, but Lori forced herself not to be affected by it.

Giving nothing more than a shrug, Lori turned back to Mitaka, "Looks like you're coming with me then."

Mitaka began to protest, but felt as though the chance had passed him by as Lori stepped towards the hall. Casting an imploring look back at Brixie, he sheepishly followed after Lori.

The room settled into an uneasy silence as the door closed behind them.

Brixie wasted no time in turning back to watch Hux, wanting to be sure that there was as much distance between them as possible. To her relief and annoyance, he was still sitting on the bed where Lori had left him, Ardis playing with a makeshift toy at the edge of the mattress.

"Whatever you're planning isn't going to work." She bluntly told Armitage.

"I haven't been planning anything." He replied without looking at the medic.

Armitage was being far more truthful than he would have liked. Lori had made it clear to him that she was improvising, and beyond the fact that he had to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, he didn't know what might happen.

"Right." Brixie made her doubts obvious, "and guess you didn't destroy Hosnian Prime either."

Not wanting to dignify the medic with a response, Armitage picked up the dangling set of metal that Ardis had been playing with before tossing it to the other edge of the bed.

Brixie wasn't dropping the conversation, "Scared I'll just walk out the door and tell someone that General Hux of the First Order is in this room?"

Hux doubted that the rebel would be that brazen, but he did see an opportunity to quash any ideas that she had, "I'm sure that would end well for you."

"We both saw how that duros looked at you. You're a wanted man."

"And you've been one of my accomplices for the last week." he sharply commented.

His words silenced Brixie for a moment.

Deliberately trying to frighten Brixie out of her idea Hux spoke again, "As far as the Resistance knows, you even helped Lori steal their freighter."

"That's not what happened."

"But that's what it looks like." Armitage still hadn't looked up at Brixie, instead watching his daughter frolic at the end of the bed, "I'd expect you of all people to know the power of appearances."

Brixie bit her tongue, knowing that Hux was just saying whatever he thought would hurt her the most. Even worse was the fact that it was working.

Brixie had nowhere to go, and no one to talk to.

.***.***.***.***.

Finding someone willing to pay full price for an obviously stolen ship was a difficult task.

Finding someone to buy untraceable spaceship components was very easy.

After just a half a day of talking, Lori had successfully sold the hyperdrive, the nav computer, the weapons systems, the shield generators, and landing gear. By this time tomorrow, the stolen Hutt ship wouldn't be anything more than a durasteel frame sitting on a landing pad.

At the moment, Lori sat in a diner across a small table from Mitaka, their last customer having just left from a short meeting. With their customer gone, the two of them were left to sit in silence, Mitaka purposefully avoiding eye contact by intently looking at his long-cold cup of caf.

Lori was still searching for a way to permanently get rid of the young man. He had been even more nervous than usual. Lori had seen him come to terms with being on the run during their year with the Resistance, so the only thing she could imagine to be bothering him was Armitage's presence. She had held onto the blaster pistol she'd pulled off of the duros, but she didn't want to use it on Mitaka. She didn't want to use it on anyone.

Searching for some opening, Lori went on the offensive and told Mitaka, "Alright, just say what's on your mind."

"Oh… N-nothing. I'm just tired is all."

Lori picked up her own cup of caf, only to find that it was empty. Waving over the only service droid in the place, she waited for her mug to be refiled and for the droid to leave before speaking on what she assumed Mitaka was thinking.

"You can just go, you know. There's nothing keeping you here."

Mitaka didn't want to be having this conversation, he wasn't sure what he wanted at all. He'd seen something of the galaxy away from the First Order, but even that had been in the confines of a guarded camp. Not having a system or group to rely on seemed impossible, yet liberating. Tempting, but just as terrifying as remaining in the situation he was now.

"I can't."

Creating room between them and hoping that it would counter any imagined imprisonment from Mitaka's mind, Lori leaned back with her mug in hand, "You could just walk out that door.

"There's nowhere for me to go."

"Every corner of the galaxy wants a good blaster repair man on hand. Hell, you could probably eek out a decent living here as an appraiser."

"That's not what I meant…" Mitaka spoke softly before drifting into silence.

 _I don't know how to live like this._ He admitted to himself, _I can't stay with them, but I can't just leave._

Not wanting him to have too long to think, Lori reached for one of the pouches on her belt. Pulling the one that had been payment for the shield generator, Lori wasted no time in tossing it onto the table. It landed with a soft thud and a slight jingle of credits.

"Take that. It's not enough to live on, but it's enough to disappear with."

Mitaka considered the bundle of credits. Timidly, he reached out for it.

"I think we both know how this is going to end," Lori said after a sip of caf.

"What about Brixie?" Mitaka asked, obvious worry painting his words.

Lori let a little bit of the guilt from her betrayal of the medic show on her features, "What about her? I think it's time we all went our separate ways. Whether she likes it or not."

Mitaka heard the underlying message in Lori's words.

No matter what he decided to do, he knew that Lori would find a way to run off, Ardis and Hux in tow. He knew better than to think that she would spare a second thought for him and Brixie, the fact that she had given him some credits to try and live off of was no doubt some sort of ploy. Part of him couldn't help but wonder if this was an attempt to play him and Brixie against each other; if Lori showing him kindness would be used to somehow convince Brixie not to trust him.

Lori watched Mitaka think. She would have liked to know exactly what thoughts were running through his head, but she didn't think she could get him to talk in a way that did more good than harm.

Lori took another deep drink of her caf to finish it off.

She did have one way to get rid of Mitaka. If worse came to worse, Lori could out him for his past First Order affiliations. It wasn't ideal, and she would much rather just have Mitaka look the other way, but ensuing confusion might be just enough to create an opportunity for her to slip away with Armitage and Ardis in tow.

 _But that's still wishful thinking_ , Lori admitted to herself.

Running off in the midst of confusion would hinge on Armitage's ability to walk, and that was something that she couldn't rush.

No, life would be much more convenient if Mitaka left on his own accord.

"Just think about it," Lori gently urged before setting the mug down, "You've got options now."


	30. Thunder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and sorry for missing a chapter on Monday, I've been much more busy than is reasonable lately. I hate to do it (especially this close to finishing the story) but I'm going to go down to 1 update per week, with new chapters being posted on Thursdays. 
> 
> Again, very sorry, Ch. 31 will go up on the 25th.

A gentle but persistent rain tapped against the window.

Mitaka had been the first one to wake up. Blearily blinking away the last remains of sleep as he sat up from the bed and looked around the dim room.

On the other bed lay Lori and Hux both, Ardis tucked between them and just barely visible. Opposite of Mitaka and on the couch, was Brixie.

Relieved to find that everyone was still in the room, Mitaka reached for his eyepatch. He had been the first to fall asleep last night, sure that he wouldn't be useful in any circumstance. The pouch of credits that Lori had handed him sat safely tucked away in this coat pocket. To his relief, the jacket was still in a crumbled heap next to the bed, undisturbed from how he had left it last night.

As Mitaka finished tying his eyepatch back in place, there came a slight stir from the couch.

Brixie had woken up several times through the night, usually to suspiciously check if Lori and Hux were still there. This time, her paranoid glance around the room found Mitaka sitting up. Worried that she had missed something, she quickly looked to the other bed.

The sudden spike of adrenaline faded as she found everyone still in their places.

A distant rumble of thunder shook the walls, not quite loud enough to wake anyone else.

Brixie wasn't sure how much she could trust Mitaka, he seemed especially on edge after his afternoon out with Lori. For a second she considered whether or not to say anything to him, conscious that she might wake Lori or Hux.

She didn't have to debate for long, as Mitaka said, "Brixie, I-I need to tell you something."

 _What did Lori do this time_? Was the first thought that came to Brixie mind. The second one was a sense of regret and shame.

"What is it?" she didn't voice her suspicions.

Mitaka nervously looked at the other bed before trying not to look down at the jacket. He wasn't sure what to make of Lori's insistence that he simply leave. Whatever she though she was planning, he decided that it would be better not to keep any secrets from Brixie.

"Yesterday, while I was out," he began in a hush, "Lori suggested that I just leave. She gave me a bundle of credits and asked that I just go."

Brixie wasn't sure what to do with this information. While she thought through any possible implications, Mitaka kept talking.

"I asked Lori what she was planning to do, and she just said that we should all go our separate ways."

"Is that what you're going to do?"

"I…" Mitaka caught himself before he rambled again, "No."

The former lieutenant was looking down at the bed rather back at Brixie. More than a little suspicious of his intentions, Brixie asked, "then what are you going to do?"

Mitaka didn't have many options. Running away might be the least troublesome of them, but he wasn't sure he could do it. He knew very well that Hux was dangerous, budding family or not. He also knew that he needed something in the galaxy he could trust. He'd lived his entire life with a blind belief in authority, only to find that the First Order had been a twisted thing at it's very core.

He didn't want to blindly believe in anything, but he needed to trust that a better system was out there.

"We've got to turn them in."

Brixie looked back at him. Unsure of where any potential lie might be coming from.

"I've got to believe in something." Mitaka continued, "There should be a trial, and a fair punishment."

"What about you?" she asked, still searching for some deception.

Mitaka didn't like his odds, but he did like to believe that he had done some good during his time with the Resistance, "All I ask for is the same. I don't know what to believe about the New Republic, but it has to be better than the First Order."

Another gentle rumble of thunder shook the walls, this time earning a small movement from the other bed.

Lori hadn't heard any of the hushed conversation between Mitaka and Brixie. Rolled on her side to face Ardis and Armitage, she didn't even see that they were awake.

Her spot on the bed was warm, though the slightest movement left her to brush against cold sheets. Next to her lay Ardis. For a second, Lori thought that the infant had woken up, but it turned out that the little girl was just kicking at the sheets. Gently rocking side to side from the motion, Ardis only came to a stop when she had wiggled her way to Armitage's side.

As Ardis settled, now only half covered, Lori reached over. Moving as quietly as she could, Lori tilted Ardis' head away from Armitage. Satisfied that the little girl wouldn't suffocate herself, Lori let herself enjoy the moment.

Rain pattered against the window, occasionally lessening and then suddenly increasing in volume with the wind. In time with the sound, Lori watched the occasional rise and fall of Armitage's chest. Being in a run down hotel wasn't ideal, but being safe and warm, tucked beside her family, almost made everything okay.

Wanting to hold onto the moment, Lori reached out with one arm. Careful not to touch the still tender wound on Armitage's chest, she let her arm rest across his stomach. It was a bit of a stretch to leave enough room for Ardis between them, but Lori quickly settled into a comfortable position.

Ardis wiggled again, this time curling a small hand around Armitage's elbow.

 _She needs a real crib_ , Lori idly thought as thunder rolled in the distance.

The deep sound drew another small movement from the child, this one waking Armitage.

Creaking his eyes open, the first thing he saw was his daughter by his side with Lori mere inches beyond her.

The small pleasure of seeing them both didn't last long as the room beyond them came into focus. Mitaka was sitting up straight on his bed, with Brixie on the couch casting a harsh look towards Hux and Lori.

Lori watched Armitage's expression harden as he looked past her. Rolling around, she followed his gaze.

Not wanting to start the day off with yet another tense moment, Lori was as nonchalant as she could be as she told the room, "Good morning."

A muted "Good morning," came in reply from Mitaka, though Brixie said nothing.

Realizing that that was as close as she was going to get to a pleasant exchange, Lori slowly left the bed before reaching for the day cloths she had gotten just the other day.

"I'm going to go track down some breakfast," Lori let the group know as she stepped towards the fresher, "which one of y'all are coming with me this time?"

Brixie didn't like the fact that Lori was aware she was being kept under surveillance. Though the Brixie knew that Lori deserved it, being called out for her suspicions hurt on a level that Brixie didn't want to acknowledge.

Still, being left alone with Hux again was an utterly miserable experience. Hoping to avoid at least one terrible thing, and deciding that she could trust Mitaka at least a little, Brixie volunteered before Mitaka had the chance to respond, "I'll go."

Who was following her didn't really matter to Lori, she wasn't planning on running off, not without a way to bring Ardis and Armitage with her. Her errand of fetching food was just that.

"Alright," Lori replied before stepping into the fresher, "give me a second while I get dressed."

Half sure that she might have to chase after one of them in the middle of the night, Brixie had slept in her day clothes.

.***.***.***.***.

The Bracca market was mostly deserted. The few people who did trail up and down the slicked over streets traveled close to the awning covered stalls that lined the road. Lori and Brixie were among the thin crowds, looking for a hot meal.

Half a mile of so from the hotel, Lori had come across a noodle shop. More importantly, she had seen a handful of people dressed in worryingly familiar orange flight suites. Brixie hadn't left Lori's side, and had also seen the people proudly wearing X-wing flight suites.

While flying an x-wing didn't automatically make someone a rebel or New Republic ranger, that was the case more often than not. Only seeing one, or maybe two people in the conspicuous outfit could have been a coincidence, but Lori and Brixie had passed half a dozen on their short journey to the food stand.

Trying to not to seem too conspicuous, Lori made polite conversation as she paid the alien shopkeeper, "The rain must be keeping people inside."

Collecting and counting the credits, the abednedo gave a fake but polite chuckle, "They're all just busy. I'll get a big dinner time rush."

Trying to keep at the stand until the pilots passed, Lori tried to keep the conversation goin, "I take it everyone's busy with that destroyer they pulled down the other day?"

"That they are. Breaking a ship like that works up an appetite," the shopkeeper answered as he put a tied bag with Lori's order onto the counter.

Sure that Brixie was listening and about to make an inconvenient comment, Lori made a quick gesture over her shoulder as she spoke to the abednedo behind the counter, "They also here because of that ship?"

Being a head taller than Lori, he didn't need to crane his neck to see past her. As the salesman looked down the muddy and grease covered street, he saw two humans in baggy and ill-fitting orange flight suites.

"Yep, they showed up late yesterday. It's a bit weird seeing them back here. Last time the New Republic came to Bracca, it was when we were breaking Imperial ships."

Nodding along, Lori collected her order, "Guess some things don't change."

"I wouldn't go that far," the shop keep leaned against the counter, realizing that he wasn't likely to get any other costumers to chat with during the rain storm, "After seeing things go crazy with the First Order, I can say New Republic life isn't that bad."

Lori could nearly feel they weight of Brixie gaze resting on her. Ignoring what was no doubt an accusatorial stare, Lori looked for something else to say. From the corner of her eye, she could still see the pilots winding their way down the street. Though there was next to no chance that they would recognize her or Brixie, Lori didn't want to give Brixie an opportunity to approach them.

Before Lori could move onto another topic, there came another rumble from the sky. At first sounding like thunder, the sound stretched and have way the droning sound of a ships engine.

Peaking around her shoulder and hoping that she wouldn't find more x-wings approaching, Lori instead found a heavy freighter crawling its way into the clouds. The large ship was little more than a dull outline in the rainy sky. Its only distinguishing features being the glow of its engines and a ghostly blue outline of the magfield sealing its full hanger bay.

"Well, isn't that a sight for sore eyes," the shop keep followed Lori's gaze upward.

The lumbering heavy freighter slowly drifted out of sight, its rumbling engines disappearing in the sound of the rain.

"That a ship transporter?" Lori asked, an idea forming at the edge of her mind.

"Sure is," the shop keep replied with a hint of wonder, "I don't think a ship's been built on Bracca since the Galactic Republic."

"That so?"

"Yeah, after the Empire rolled in we just started breaking down Venators, and the New Republic wasn't big on building a new fleet. Looks like they've changed their mind."

Lori wasn't so much concerned with the idea of the New Republic arming itself as she was by the fact that there were large freighters, with small crews, and plenty of stealable ships. Making a mental note to learn where exactly the large freighters launched from, Lori tried not to appear too interested in them while she was in front of Brixie.

"Sounds like life is looking up for Bracca," Lori turned back to the shop keep, noting that the pilots had finally left the narrow road.

"For once, did you need any sauces with that?"

Lori dipped her head in a polite dismissal a she answered, "No thanks. It was nice talking with you, keep the change."

Realizing that the conversation was over the shopkeeper settled into a standard goodbye, "Thank you, and come again."

As Brixie and Lori made their way back down the street, they didn't come across anymore New Republic pilots. While Lori was mentally working out the details of how to avoid them and sneak onto an outgoing freighter, Brixie was cursing at herself for not shouting or even trying to get the pilots attention.

Though she hated to admit it, part of her couldn't betray Lori like that. At least, not to her face. It was one thing to sneak off and alert the authorities, but it was another to call out to them and confront Lori directly.

 _And_ , Brixie bitterly thought back to the short conversation she'd had with Hux. _Lori can and will get them on her side. I have to be careful or she'll make me look like the bad guy_.


	31. Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for uploading so late in the day, please enjoy.

Three days had crawled by on Bracca, most of them sopping wet with the rain.

Just like yesterday and the day before, Armitage was left in the hotel room with Mitaka while Lori and Brixie ventured out for food. The two men had made a habit of turning on the holoprojector and generally not speaking to each other. Armitage kept the projector tuned to the news.

At first the scrolling headlines and interviews about the reformation of the New Republic had sent him into a boiling rage. Now, Armitage only half listened to the program on the off chance that he might learn something useful.

While most of the news was mindless chatter, there was the occasional section updating the people about the remains of the First Order. The previously deposed New Republic senators constantly droned on about taking First Order personnel to trial, but they hadn't found any surviving members of high command.

Armitage liked his chances less each time the segment came on, the news casters and politicians both sounding a little more vengeful with each one.

There wasn't much that he did like about being hidden away in the hotel room, threat of capture notwithstanding. It had been nigh impossible to talk to Lori about anything beyond surface level chatter, with Brixie listening in on everything they said. He knew that Lori was planning something, he had seen that characteristic glint in her eyes that said as much. While not knowing the plan ate at him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to help even if he did threatened to drive him insane.

_Useless,_ Armitage thought about himself and the state he was in.

Before he had the chance to focus on his self-loathing, a small shuffle came from the side of the bed. With Lori's forced distance and caution, Armitage found that spending afternoons with his daughter had been the only real thing keeping him sane. Shifting slightly to the side, Armitage looked down to find Ardis gripping the side of the mattress as a support for her nearly independent walking.

"Da?" she looked back up at him with a wide-eyed curiosity.

"What is it?"

The infant tugged at the side of the bed, her tiny hands scrunching up the sheets. While Armitage was pretty sure she wanted up on the bed, he knew he couldn't lift her and he wasn't about to ask Mitaka for help. Instead, he ignored the deep weariness and aches that still ate at him while he scooted over to the edge of the bed.

Leaving the support of the wall and having his feet come to a rest on the ground, there was almost no time for Armitage to steady himself before Ardis quickly stepped to the side and held onto his knee for support.

"Patience, Ardis,' Armitage tried to guide the child away from his leg and back to the bed for support. Just the weight from lifting the little girl's hand to put it back on the mattress was nearly too much for Armitage.

"Mah!" Ardis protested at being moved.

While he didn't want the little girl to give into a temper tantrum for a number of reasons, Armitage didn't acknowledge the small angry noise. Instead, he reached for his cane which leaned against the bedside table.

It took more effort than Armitage was willing to admit, but he slowly brought himself to standing. A second before he was completely steady, Ardis grabbed at his free hand. Between the upward force on one shoulder from leaning on the cane, the downward yank on the other from Ardis, and the overall lack of support he got from his injured leg, Armitage nearly lurched to the side. Luckily, the bed kept Armitage from swaying too far in one direction, and he was able to keep his footing.

Not fully understanding that she could knock someone over, Ardis kept her hold on Armitage, "Da?"

"You've got to be more careful," he spoke down at the child, not with a babying tone, but with a voice that was only slightly softer than the one he would use to talk to anyone else.

Ardis got some of the message, letting go of Armitage's hand after considering it carefully. After a short moment that Armitage used to come to a more stable position, Ardis reached out again. Instead of gripping everything she could and yanking down, she curled her fingers around Armitage's thumb with a firm grip.

Though it was a tiny gesture, Armitage had to cram down a warm memory that threatened to bring a tear to his eye.

That one night in a Bastion hospital, the very first time that they had met, the only things Ardis was capable of were grabbing his thumb and crying at the top of her lungs. Armitage knew that it was wildly unlikely, but seeing Ardis hold onto some of her very first habits let Armitage imagine that she might remember more of him from her very first days. Of course, that small hope was a desperate attempt to be free of the guilt of missing Ardis' first year.

He wasn't sure what lesson Ardis was learning here, but Armitage replied, "That's better."

Mitaka had been watching the slight commotion unfold from his bed. When Hux stood, he had nearly said something. After it was clear that the general could barely stand, Mitaka lowered his guard slightly. Now, he watched as Hux shuffled across the room, Ardis clinging to his hand and occasionally using it for support.

Quickly realizing that they were walking towards the couch, Mitaka pretended to ignore the commotion, feigning focus in the holoprojector instead. As Armitage limped across the room, he tried to ignore the burning sense of humiliation that came from Mitaka seeing him in such a vulnerable state.

Coming to a stop on the low sofa, Armitage was quickly joined by Ardis. Climbing the couch and coming to the top of it with a beaming sense of pride, Ardis quickly settled down next to Armitage. Being on his unwounded side, she curled up against him and used his leg as a pillow.

"Did you just want to nap?" Armitage wasn't taken aback, so much as he was impressed at Ardis' planning.

Wiggling more firmly into her spot, Ardis replied with a wordless noise that appeared to mean, "Yes."

As the infant settled into her nap, there came a sudden whoosh of an opening door. Armitage and Mitaka both looked up at the disturbance, equally tense for different reasons.

Brixie took her time entering the room, a defeated expression just visible beneath a heavy spattering of mud. She was soaked through, with gray sludge plastering her clothes and clinging to the ends of her hair. Stepping out of the hall left a series of half formed footprints and a trail of dirty street water behind her.

Lori appeared behind Brixie, slightly damp but without a speck of mud. As the medic left the doorway, Lori quickly followed, carrying the bag of take-out food that they had gone out for.

"Brixie tripped." She offered in way of an explanation as the medic wordlessly stepped into the fresher.

"Did something happen?" Mitaka asked as he stood from his bed.

"It's just raining and slippery out," Lori answered as she set the bag down on a bedside table.

Not minding the nervous glance that Mitaka sent towards the fresher as the pipes groaned with running water, Lori rummaged through the bag for the boxes of food meant for her and her family. Bringing them to the couch, Lori walked in a perfectly nonchalant way that was at odds with her frantic glances between Armitage and the upper of the two boxes.

Understanding Lori's implied message that he should look closely at the container, Armitage considered his options. Mitaka had just finished pulling another box from the bag, and was once again facing him and Lori.

Rather than reacting in any way that Mitaka might be able to notice, Armitage stayed sitting on the couch and rested one hand on Ardis' shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Armitage asked as Lori sat on his other side and offered him the top box.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I saw Brixie go down and stopped before I hit the same slippery patch."

"Ah," Armitage acknowledged before looking down at the fresh food.

Scratched into the layer of insulation around the box was a short message: ' in bldg. Run tonite.'

Armitage didn't react to the message.

"Poor thing was stuck in the mud for a while." Lori clarified.

With that, Hux was sure that Lori had tripped the medic as a way to hide her scratching a message into the take-out boxes.

"I can imagine," He replied, trying to speak in some way that hinted he had seen and understood that they would need to leave, "It must have been very difficult to get up and continue on. Though this hot meal is worth the little bit of trouble."

Taking that as confirmation that Armitage had seen her message Lori opened her own box, "I'll toss the boxes when you're done. Ardis looks too comfy to let you move."

Balancing dinner on one leg left Armitage with a free hand, which he brought to rest on Ardis' shoulder, "I'd hope so. She practically dragged me here to be her pillow."

After the slight tension that came from sneaking a message to Armitage, Lori was happy to let it go and settle into a softer conversation.

"Uh-oh," she teased, "sounds like I have two bossy red heads on my hands."

"I was manipulated more so than bossed; she gets it from you." Despite being self-conscious from Mitaka being in the room, Armitage answered back in an equally teasing tone.

Making some effort to ignore the sound of water rushing through pipes and the occasional nervous glance from Mitaka, Lori replied, "She does have you wrapped around her little finger."

Reminded once again of that special day that seemed so long ago, Armitage answered in a hushed voice, "Just like her mother."

Lori heard a trace of sadness on Armitage's voice. Knowing not to press him on it with Mitaka still in the room, she let his comment go unanswered.

_It'll get better. I promise,_ she hoped that he could see the determination in her eyes, that he knew that she would do anything to protect them. They would be free to talk about everything and everything in just a few short hours, they had to be.

The water to the fresher stopped, Armitage didn't dare say anything more that might be taken out of context.

Watching Lori look back at him, he could see the promise on her features. Guilt and anger and dozen other painful little things picked at him, but when he looked to Lori, Armitage truly believed that all would be well.

.***.***.***.***.

The room was dim, a few patches shrouded in deep shadows cast by the neon streetlights that weren't completely blocked by the blinds. The washed-out blues and reds that shone as faded lines on the walls created just enough light to see by.

Brixie lay awake on the couch, thoughts racing too quickly to let her drift back to sleep.

The New Republic pilots were also staying in this hotel. She'd overheard as much during her trip out for dinner with Lori.

_Does Lori know?_ Brixie wondered in the dark. _Probably not, my fall probably distracted her. Maybe. Hopefully._

The medic tried to shift into a comfortable position. Failing that, she admitted to herself that she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon and sat up.

Looking around she found two large lumps and one small one in the far bed, proof that Lori, Hux, and Ardis were still there.

Brixie took a quiet breath in, _Sound asleep. Just like last time._

Breathing out, Brixie considered her options again, _They're in the building. I could end this all now. Just tell the pilots what's going on before Lori has the chance to say anything._

A shuffle came from the other bed. Jumping at the sound, Brixie quickly turned to find Mitaka still asleep. As she realized it was nothing, Brixie took a breath and forced herself to relax from the sudden surprise.

_Sorry about this Mitaka. I'll tell them that you helped, but…_

Brixie stopped herself from thinking too much about what might happen to the young man if she brought the pilots back to the hotel room. Mitaka had told her that they needed to turn Hux in, even if it might end badly for him.

The couch creaked as Brixie stood up.

The door opened with a hushed hiss that could have been the loudest thing Brixie had ever heard. Sterile white light poured in from the hall and blinded Brixie for a moment. As her eyes cleared, she stepped out of the room. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she found the previously dim place to be impossibly dark to see into.

Questioning everything she was doing, but knowing that it was the right choice, Brixie shut the door behind her and then quietly rushed down the hall.

She didn't know which room the pilots were staying in, but the hotel wasn't large and it was only a matter of time until she found them.

Quickly making her way to the top floor of the only three-story structure, Brixie began roughly knocking at each door in the hall. Most didn't answer to her pounding, and those that did weren't anyone she recognized from the streets.

Far too much time passed before she came to the second floor. Another handful of disgruntled guests answered; Brixie stammered out another handful of hasty apologies for waking them.

Half way down the hall, Brixie came to a stop at yet another door.

Like all the times before she gave it a rattling knock.

Like some of the times before it opened.

This time, she recognized the one who answered.

Tall and broad shouldered, she hadn't just seen this man during a passing moment on the street.

"Lex?" As prepared as she was, Brixie hadn't expected him, "Lex!"

Rudely awoken from a deep sleep, the former mercenary turned New Republic ranger hadn't quite registered what was happening, "What do you want?"

"Lex, it's me! It's Brixie! This is in-" she cut herself off before getting sidetracked by the sudden appearance of one of her last friends, "I need your help!"

As he gradually grew more awake, the significance of Brixie's presence and words began to dawn on Lex, "Help for what? Hold on… Brixie, what are you doing here?"

"You were right about Lori, we shouldn't have trusted her back on Bastion, and-" Realizing that she was about to go off on a tangent, Brixie stopped for a breath, "… Long story short General Hux is alive and asleep in room 108."

Many things vied for Lex's attention. How a senior member of the First Order was still alive and on Bracca was the most pressing. How Brixie had come to know that, and how she had ended up here at all was the most personal. Why Brixie had tried to begin her story with mention of Lori was the most confusing.

"Back up. How did you know this, where the hell did you go after Ajan Kloss, and how does Lori matter to anything?"

"Lori was in the First Order the whole time, Ardis was actually her and Hux's child, she accidently kidnapped me. Let's go."

At first surprised and then completely taken off guard by what Brixie had to say, Lex blinked and wondered if he weren't in the middle of a strange dream, "That made a lot more questions than it answered. You said he's asleep, so he's not going anywhere right now."

Sure as she was that Lex would believe her over Lori in any circumstance, Brixie still desperately needed someone to talk to. She also thought that now might be her only chance to put in a good word for Mitaka, "Fine, I'll tell you everything, but we need to make it quick."

Seeing some urgency and fierceness that he didn't remember in his old friend, Lex obligingly stepped to the side so that Brixie could enter the room.

.***.***.***.***.

The room was dim.

Neither Lori nor Hux had gone to sleep, instead spending the past couple of hours in silence. The rain had stopped just past sunset, leaving the room perfectly still in the dull streetlight.

Occasional creaks had come from the couch, as Brixie tossed and turned in the night. From his side of the bed, Armitage could see her occasionally sitting up to look around the room.

Like many times before, Brixie was sitting up. Unlike the other times, she didn't lay back down. Armitage didn't move as he watched the medic stand and quickly make for the door.

It made its characteristic whoosh as a blade of bright light cut into the room. Scarcely a second after the light appeared, it blinked away with another muted hiss.

Just a moment of the bright light was enough to dull Armitage's vision in the dim room. Hoping that Mitaka hadn't been awoken but the light and sound, Armitage whispered a short message to Lori, "She's gone."

Having her back to the door, Lori was still able to see in the gloom. Not risking the noise of a response, she folded the cover back before slipping out of bed. A glance found Mitaka asleep and sprawled across his bed, sheets jumbled into messy piles from his tossing and turning.

"Clear." She whispered back to Armitage.

Hearing Lori, Armitage took his time in also standing. Being careful not to hurt himself, or to wake Ardis, he took his time to get out of bed.

Not slowed down by circumstance, Lori quickly went around the room gathering the few things she knew they would need most. First placing a pair of boots and overcoat near Armitage, Lori then moved to the closet to throw a real change of clothes into a bag. They didn't need to waste time on a wardrobe change when Brixie could be back any moment.

Following that, Lori shrugged on her own coat, over aware of the slight clinking that came from the bundles of credits that were tucked into its several pockets.

Following that, the small bundle of supplies that she had bought for Ardis also went into the bag. The total time to pack couldn't have been more than two minutes, each of them passing with more urgency as the chance of Brixie returning or Mitaka waking up grew.

Leaving her own shoes next to the door, Lori silently crossed the room to help Armitage.

It was impossible to see in the dim light, but he had gone slightly red in the face out of frustration from being unable to do something as simple as quickly putting on shoes. By the time Lori arrived, he had only managed the one.

Not even considering a snide comment, or thinking anything less of him, Lori simply helped Armitage step into the second shoe before holding the coat so that he could easily slip it on.

Acutely aware that they shouldn't be making needless noise in the darkened room, Armitage still muttered a hushed, "Thank you."

Replying with a gentle squeeze on his shoulder, Lori went back around the bed to scoop up a still sleeping Ardis.

The infant didn't stir. Lori reached the door and put on her own shoes by the time that Armitage finally hobbled to her side. One last look into the dim room found that Mitaka was still asleep.

Hoping that she wouldn't find Brixie in the hall, Lori opened the door and waited for Armitage to follow.


	32. Emergency Bulletin

The clouds that swirled above Bracca were stained purple-red by the lights of the industrial centers below them. The rain had stopped for the night, leaving the city streets to accumulate grime that would never be fully washed away. Metal shavings and oil coated the walkways, distorted reflections of streetlights giving them the illusion of bright white patches.

Lori kept by Armitage's side, helping him along as they hurried down a narrow road.

They had no way of knowing how close they might be to capture or discovery. Being minutes or possibly only seconds ahead of Brixie and the New Republic pilots left Lori on high alert. Each rustle of scrap-rats digging through trash set her nerves on end. A monorail car rumbled as it passed the run-down slums, its harsh noise made all the more alarming by its sudden appearance.

Despite being on edge, Lori didn't show anything of her anxious state. In part because she didn't want to give the panic a chance to consume her, but also because she didn't want to seem like an especially easy target to any passersby. She hadn't seen anyone, but Armitage was obviously limping, and Lori had been in enough dangerous places to know that predators of all kinds attacked the injured and desperate first.

Armitage knew just as well that they were obvious targets, even if no one recognized him. Admitting to himself that he needed help was nearly as painful as the barely healed wound in his leg, and he tried to walk normally with each step.

Hoping that Ardis would remain asleep in her hold for a little while longer, Lori and Armitage continued wordlessly through the city streets. After what felt like hours they came to the edge of an industrial district.

The near abandoned streets turned into wide and busy roads, their sides clogged by workers moving between ships. Overpacked hovercraft and barges meandered between ships, gathering scrap as they went. In the distance loomed the cold body of the Star Destroyer, its nose run deep into the ground and its dead engines pointed up to the clouds.

The short pause that came from Lori and Armitage taking in their new surroundings was enough for Armitage's cane to begin sinking into the muck.

Lori stepped closer to Armitage as she realized he was beginning to lean to the side, "Come on, we can't stop now."

Acutely aware of how out of place a hobbling man with a cane and a woman carrying an infant were in the industrial area, Armitage shrugged deeper into his coat and set off again.

.***.***.***.***.

Lex pinched the bridge of his nose out of equal parts frustration and confusion. He had been sharing the hotel room with another pilot, a human named Baral, who had been a New Republic ranger before the First Order's invasion of the galaxy.

Baral was a great help in the fight, but Lex could barely stand talking to him. The only things that Baral ever said were either condescending reminders of how the rangers used to do things, or snide questions that Lex would have the answer to if he had bothered listening to them in the first place.

"Wait, go over that again." Baral interrupted Brixie, "Hux, and we are talking General Hux, didn't get taken out over Exegol?"

"No," Brixie tried not to betray how exhausted she was getting with re-explaining everything she had said, "He got shot over Kijimi, and Lori rescued him. He can't walk without help, but we still need to hurry."

"Right…" Baral still wasn't sure where Lex knew Brixie from. Baral didn't know much about Lex to begin with, other than the fact that he had been amongst the rebels that escaped from Crait. While that alone was enough to tell Baral that Lex could be trusted, he was still trying to figure out how Brixie fit into this, and he had no idea who Lori was supposed to be, "So, he's just laying down there in room 108. Well Lex, it looks like tomorrow's going to be a big day."

The arrogance dripping from Baral's words was almost enough to make Lex punch the man, but he held back, "No, we have to handle this now. Go wake up the others, this could get messy."

Baral wasn't expecting to do anything about this supposed tip until the morning, "Really? There's what, a lady, a baby, and a wounded officer that never fought a day in his life? They're not going anywhere, and we know what they look like if they do, can't this wait until morning?"

"Well, 'that lady' managed to dupe the entire Resistance for a year." Lex spoke with a bitter tone before standing up, "I'm not taking any chances. Let's go."

Standing with a huff of annoyance, Baral did as he was told but still complained, "Back before the First Order invaded, new guys knew not to boss around their seniors."

"Back before the First Order invaded, the rangers had twelve X-wings, no pilots to fly them, and zero credits to their name." Lex grumbled back before following behind Baral.

"Lex," Deciding not to get involved with whatever petty squabble was between the two men, Brixie stepped after him, "Mitaka is also down there. I know this just makes the story more complicated, but he's on our side."

Baral stopped at the door, ready to ask who Mitaka was supposed to be. Lex looked between Brixie and his coworker before muttering, "Baral, just go get the others. I'll meet you downstairs."

.***.***.***.***.

Lori only had a rough idea of where the large shipments were being launched from. Navigating through the twisting paths between wreckages proved more difficult than she had expected, and the only thing to guide her was the occasional rumble from the lift off of a freighter.

"Lori," Armitage huffed from her side, "we need to stop."

While progress had been slow since the very start, Armitage was now struggling to take so much as a step. A thin layer of sweat painted his brow and, though he tried to hide it, his breath was pained and ragged. Though not to same extent, Lori had also grown tired, being bogged down by Ardis' weight.

Reluctant, Lori did as Armitage asked. Casting a quick glance around, she spotted a heap of scrap next to two welders. Adjusting her hold on Ardis, Lori offered a hand to Armitage before guiding him to the pile.

It was just large enough to sit down on, though doing so earned confused looks from the workers. After it was clear that neither Lori nor Armitage were there to steal any of the scrap, the workers turned back to their task, though they exchanged questioning glances.

"Take as long as you need," Lori offered.

Armitage didn't spend his breath on a reply. They both knew that they didn't have the time to spare; Brixie had no doubt discovered that they were missing. Though neither she nor the New Republic pilots had any way of knowing where they had gone, they weren't difficult to find. And if they were discovered there wouldn't be any hope of out running their would-be captors.

As the grim reality of the situation set in on Lori and Armitage, the indifferent commotion of the industrial area continued around them.

Ardis had been sound asleep for the first leg of their journey. But, the hissing drone of the welder besides them and the continual rattle of scrap on passing hovercraft made for a rude awakening. Cranky and confused at the sound Ardis woke up and immediately began a shrieking cry.

Wincing at the sound and increasingly difficult situation, Lori searched for any kind of solution. Though she had hoped to be as anonymous as possible on their journey, Lori admitted to herself that that probably wasn't possible.

Holding Ardis closely, Lori turned towards the welders, "Hey! Hey you two! Yeah, both of you."

Curious despite their need to make the day's quota, the two welders lowered their torches, one of them pulling down her respirator in order to talk, "What do you want?"

Regretting the fact that these two people would definitely remember them if asked, Lori shouted slightly to be heard over the sounds of industry and Ardis' crying, "We're lost. We're looking for the shipping yards."

"The landing pads are that way," the welder pointed back the way they had come.

"No, the production line."

"Production?" the welder wondered to herself, "That's five miles down the road, and they aren't selling if that's what you're thinking."

Taking the welder's assumption and running with it, Lori replied, "No harm in asking. Five miles is a bit far, are any of these hovercraft headed that way?"

The welder looked at Lori with a confused annoyance she usually reserved for out of touch core-worlders, "Our scrap goes to the foundry, it's next door. But the overseer-droids aren't just going to let you ride along. We are doing actual work here, you know."

Lori caught and purposefully ignored the snippy tone, "Ok, thank you. I'll let you get back to work then."

Curiosity satisfied with the knowledge that the two adults and screaming child were just out of touch visitors, the welder replaced her mask and set back to work.

Patting Ardis on the back in an attempt to calm her down, Lori turned back to Armitage, "Ok, so I have a plan. I just don't think it's a good one."

As Armitage opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by a short cough. Recovering he said, "That's never stopped them from working before."

Thankful as she was for the vote of confidence, Lori wasn't optimistic, "Mostly thanks to luck. Here, you keep an eye on Ardis, I won't go very far."

As Lori lowered the crying child onto a mostly flat and stable section of the scrap heap, Armitage asked, "What else can I do?"

Sure that the welders were busy once more, Lori still spoke as quietly as she could, "Just hold tight. I wanted to do this without attracting attention, but we're in no shape to walk five miles. A hovercraft should be by to pick up this scrap, one way or another we'll be on it too."

.***.***.***.***.

Shouting followed by heavy footfalls thundered through the hotel room.

At first dark, and then lit by narrow but bright beams, the still room was suddenly filled with commotion.

Startling at the noise, Mitaka awoke with a fright. Eye wide open, he was met with a glaring flash that blinded him. He turned away from it. Incoherent shouting bounced off the walls, deafening him to any coherent command from the invaders.

Halfway out of a tangle of sheets, Mitaka was suddenly forced down.

Rough hands pressed on his back and around his wrists, forcing him face down into a pillow and muffling his shouts in the process, "Let me g-go! L-let me go!"

The pressure didn't relent, though the invader's shouting slowly died down. After a long second the loudest sound remaining for Mitaka was the rushing of blood and the thundering sound of his own pulse.

"Room's clear." One gruff voice spoke from just behind Mitaka. He didn't recognize it.

"We sure this is the right room?" Another asked from the side.

"108, this is it. The other bed's disturbed; they knew we were coming."

"Damn it!" the first voice shouted, the grip on Mitaka's wrists tightening in time with it.

Just beneath the shout, there was another set of footsteps, these somewhat lighter than those that had burst into the room.

"What? They're gone?" Brixie's voice was clear and easily recognizable, "Hey, let him go."

There was a short pause before the grip around Mitaka's wrists released and the pressure was let off of his back. Utterly shocked and still flooded with adrenaline, Mitaka wasted no time in turning over and sitting up.

The lights were on, and he blinked against them while his vision adjusted. When it did, he found five people in the room. A weequay and a lasat stood by the abandoned bed, a crolute stood beside Mitaka, apparently having just released him. Two humans stood at the far side of the room, Mitaka recognized one of them from the rebel camp. He'd been a friend of Brixie's, though he hadn't talked to him often, the rebel usually being off planet on a mission.

Looking between Brixie, the abandoned bed, and the handful of armed men, Mitaka quickly pieced together what had happened.

"I didn't hear them leave." He offered defensively.

Knowing that Lori had anticipated her actions, Brixie tried not to give into the sense that she had just betrayed a friend.

 _She's not your friend anymore,_ Brixie tried to remind herself _. She probably never was._

While Brixie grappled with her thoughts, Lex didn't waste time on questions or confusion.

"Klieg," he looked around the room as he spoke, "You and Dina search the room and hotel. Balar and Gygax, go find whatever passes for the government of this planet and tell them what's going on. Brixie, you're with me. They can't have gotten very far."

Though Balar began to protest, the others quickly set about their tasks.

Lex was about to leave as well, but Brixie stopped him before turning to Mitaka, "You're coming too. Remember what you told me the other day."

Mitaka did remember that he suggested they turn Hux in. It seemed to him like Brixie had already tried. Whatever the case might be, he wasn't about to challenge her.

"O-of course. Let me get dressed."

.***.***.***.***.

Finding a worker's poncho that no one would miss took less than five minutes. Finding enough functioning electronics to cobble together a functioning power override tool took considerably longer.

While Lori was no stranger to on-the-fly ship repairs, she wasn't keen on many other technical tricks. Luckily for her, Armitage had spent over a decade heading, and sometimes micromanaging, most of the First Order's technical research and development.

Returning to the scrap heap with her handful of components, Lori was happy to find that the welders had moved slightly further away, and were still minding their own business.

"Has the hovercraft been by?" she asked as she approached Armitage and Ardis.

"No, and the welders haven't paid me any mind." He answered, one hand resting on his cane while the other kept hold of Ardis.

To Lori's relief, the infant had stopped crying, but she was slightly red in the face and very irritated.

"Great. I got a look at the overseer droids, and they're all X2H-series. Can you put together some kind of power override system? I don't know if this battery has any charge to it, but overloading a droid and hijacking its hovercraft might be our best shot."

Armitage hesitated slightly when Lori offered him the components she had gathered. Realizing that he had his hands full, she set the things down before picking Ardis up.

Left with a jumble of machine components, Armitage considered them, "I can figure something out, give me a moment."

He wasn't familiar with the X2H series, the First Order had never used them, but most droids used a universal receptor. Looking at the components, Armitage was fairly certain he could get at least one use out of the battery, even if it had a low charge.

He also knew that Lori's plan was risky, and executing it would almost certainly alert the workers that something was wrong.

Like it or not, he couldn't think of anything better.

Lori adjusted her hold on Ardis as Armitage worked. When she did, she noticed that the infant seemed intent on something over her shoulder. Fully expecting to see Brixie or one of the pilots running after them, Lori turned to follow Ardis' line of sight.

Dropping the tension from her shoulders and then immediately bringing it back, Lori found a near empty hovercraft approaching from down the street.

"Better work a little faster," she goaded Armitage on.

He'd barely had a minute. Luckily most of the components already had exposed wiring, all he'd really needed to do was identify parts and twist wires together. He didn't look up as the rattling sound of the hovercraft drew near, instead quickly wrapping a wire around an exposed ring terminal so that a light in the scomp link flashed on.

"Don't touch any of the metal," Armitage warned as Lori turned back to face him.

Looking at the raggedy tool, Lori set Ardis back where she had just been before carefully taking it.

"Alright, just play along for a second." She told Armitage just as a hovercraft drifted to a stop.

Not missing a beat, Lori slipped the thing under her poncho before turning around with a tired air to her. Suddenly seeming the perfect picture of a disgruntled worker, she spoke to the droid, "Good, you're here. I've been trying to tell these people to leave, but they're not moving."

"I am here to collect scrap. They must move." It dispassionately replied.

"Yeah, that's what I've been telling them," Lori repeated herself with an irritated edge.

"There is a quota. They must move." The droid stood on the barge-like hovercraft that floated just a couple feet off the ground. Lori wouldn't be able to reach the data transfer port on its back without either climbing up, or having it climb down.

"Then why don't you get down here and tell them that?" She gestured over her shoulder at Ardis and Armitage, "Because they aren't listening to me."

The droid looked beyond Lori towards the scrapheap where Armitage sat with Ardis. Judging that repeating itself would yield no result, it stepped off the edge of the barge and landed upright in the mud with a wet thud.

Stepping to the side to let the droid pass, Lori didn't need to wait long before she could jam the tip of the scomp link into its rear charging port. Moving quickly, she narrowly avoided a shock as the droid jerked with a sudden jolt of energy, its arms flailing as the rotator cuffs in its shoulders were overcharged. The loud display only lasted for a second before sparks shot out of its visual receptors and the whole thing landed face first in the mud.

Dropping th enow useless tool, Lori took a hasty step forward to collect Ardis, "Come on, there's no way no one dis-"

Lori was interrupted by a shout. "What did you do?!"

Before anyone said anything else, Armitage hobbled off the scrap heap and hurried to the barge. Lori quickly outpaced him, setting Ardis on the flat surface of the hovercraft before climbing up and frantically going through the control panel.

The engine was still on, and she had only just released the brakes as Armitage came to the hovercraft's side. Unable to climb at all, he simply sat on the ship's edge before leaning back and ungracefully rolling more fully onto it.

While Armitage struggled to find a stable position, one of the welders had quickly closed in on the hovercraft. She just managed to put a hand on the top of the barge at the same time that Lori found its speed setting. The thing wasn't built for speed, but it lurched forward with a sudden acceleration before settling down well above running speed.

The welder holding the side of the barge fell face first into the mud. Armitage slid back, coming to a stop mere inches from the rear edge of the ship. Ardis shirked, but was in no danger as her back was firmly set against the center console.

Leaving behind a series of confused shouts, Lori steered the ship towards the foundry. The thick plumes of black smoke weren't her final destination, but they served as a convenient beacon to navigate by, their source being just next to the shipyards that were her ultimate goal.

As the barge settled into a steady speed, Armitage pulled his way forward, only coming to a stop when he was next to Ardis.

"That could have gone better." He huffed from the floor.

"Could have gone worse." She replied, sparing a quick glance down.

As she did, she was greeted not just by Armitage's flushed face, but also by a flashing alert on the barge's control panel. Thinking that it was a warning light for how quickly they were moving, she tried to dismiss it. As she looked closer, she realized that it wasn't a speed alert at all.

As far as Lori could tell, the barge had some sort of built-in communication system, to alert the drivers to weather conditions and suddenly blocked off roads. At the moment, however, a special bulletin had appeared.

" _Be on alert,_ " it read, " _wanted First Order criminals General Armitage Hux -Human, male, 1.85 meters- and Major Lori Gallus -Human, female, 1.70 meters- are at large. Last seen at Greezo's Motel. Traveling with infant._ "

A pit formed in Lori's stomach as she skimmed the message. Compared to it, the stolen hovercraft was the least of their problems.


End file.
